


The Sinner's Silence

by agustracha



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Adult Themes, Fantasy, Graphic Violence, Knife Use, M/M, Main ship is Minsung - Freeform, Seven Deadly Sins, Smut, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:01:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23822737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agustracha/pseuds/agustracha
Summary: Jisung regretted it the moment he made eye contact with him. His breath hitched in his throat and he looked away as soon as possible. The way the man's icy stare burnt through his skull made him feel almost faintish. It was unnaturally cold and tense; almost demon-like, it was scary.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Comments: 34
Kudos: 170





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this will probably be quite a long journey so hopefully we can make it to the end together! Please do check the tags before reading, thank you. 
> 
> Enjoy!!!

Minho didn't like commotion. It was noisy and disruptive, a situation similar to whatever chaos happening right outside his room right now.

He had no idea who was running through the corridors banging open the doors but his bets were on Felix who was a twenty year old, the kid had a tendency to get high without booze on humid days.

Five seconds later, Minho's door flew open with a huge bang as it hit on the opposite wall. He was kinda regretting not locking the door from the inside but it was too late.

Minho was almost going to swear at the deranged looking Felix standing on the doorway to chase him out but the kid beat him to it.

"Fuck hyung, he's finally here," Felix screamed with a devilish look on his face and closed the door with an equally loud bang before Minho could ask what the fuck he was talking about.

It was utter chaos.

Who was this 'he' Felix was so excited about that he was ready to unhinge all the doors in the entire household?

Curiosity took the better of Minho as he slumped forwards on his bed to reach for his slippers.

He put them on and lazily went out of his room with his hands in his silken pajama pockets.

Minho looked through the stairway railing which overlooked the main entrance before he went downstairs to see if it was worth his time and what he saw, he just wasn't expecting it at all, at least until tomorrow morning.

It was past midnight but everyone was up and all of them were circled around a person who was awkwardly standing there amidst all the attention. Minho had only seen him in photographs before.

He slightly felt self-conscious considering how he was only wearing blue pajamas with his woolen slippers as he climbed down to join the others. It's just the A _ura._ He thought.

Minho was at the bottom of the staircase when the man made eye contact with him. 'Yes, it was definitely his _Aura;_ he was a strong one-' Minho thought mindlessly as the newcomer’s soft brown eyes scanned him for a brief moment before he turned away.

**~x~**

_ 18 years ago _

_"Granny, tell me the story about the seven men," The little boy sitting cross legged in front of the fireplace asked the aged woman who was slightly rocking in her chair while her hands were busy knitting a red scarf._

_"Haven't I told you the story about a hundred times, Sungie? Aren't you bored of it yet?" She asked chuckling at her grandson._

_"No, I want to hear it again," the child said pouting as he did._

_The woman looked adoringly at him and sighed. "How can I ever resist when you're pouting like that," she said putting down her knitting to start the story._

_"Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived seven young men. Everyone knew these men weren't ordinary. They were beautiful, rich and happy; they had everything they wanted in their lives and they were envied for it by the average person. But most importantly, they had special powers-"_

_"What powers did they have granny?" The child asked, his eyes were as big and round as orbs._

_"You see, as the legend said, each of them had a specific trait which related to human feelings-"_

_"Like what?"_

_"Like envy, pride or anger, they had the ability to control ordinary people's emotions according to their will which also made these seven men very powerful among others."_

_"I want to have powers too," the child said, the innocence evident in his eyes._

_"Oh you will Sungie, give it time," she said as she went back to her knitting._

**~x~**

Jisung got the call last evening when he was on his way home. The drive to the hospital had been a blur; he couldn't really concentrate on anything else except about the phone call.

"What happened," Jisung asked the doctor before barging into the hospital room.

"A cardiac arrest. The maid called the ambulance and she was brought to the hospital at once, we did everything we could but she’s still very weak," the doctor said flipping through his file. "You can go inside and see her, she's awake."

"Thank you," Jisung said and opened the door dreading what he might see inside.

She was connected to numerous beeping machines with several wires and needles and she looked extremely weak and pale, but her eyes lightened up as soon as they focused on Jisung who was standing in the doorway.

"S-Sungie, come near me," his grandma called in a weak voice patting on the bed beckoning him to sit beside her.

Jisung did as he was told and took hold of one her hands, they were warm and soft; just the way he remembered them.

"Sungie, l-listen to me."

"Yeah?"

"They will come for you Sungie; they will es-escort you there. You should b-be a good boy and go with them, you understand me?" She said and she sounded weaker than she did a few seconds ago.

Jisung didn't exactly understand what she meant. Who did she mean by _'they'_? And where are they going to take him? He had too many questions to ask.

"Who are you talking about, granny?" Jisung asked.

"You'll u-understand when the time arrives. For now, listen to me," she said tightening her hand around his in an assuring way.

"But-"

"Just d-do as I say, stay prepared for their arrival," she said in a finalizing tone.

Jisung decided not to prod for more answers as he wasn't even sure what she was talking about and further talking was going to gradually weaken her.

It was just past midnight when the machines stopped beeping and the green pulsing spectrum in the monitor turned into a boring straight line.

**~x~**

All his relatives, family and friends were there at the funeral possession, but he strangely felt alone amidst all these hundreds of people.

He was orphaned when he was just four years old, both his parents had died in a car crash and he was left alone with his grandmother who looked after him ever since. He didn't really know his parents to miss them, his grandma was the only parental figure he had in his life and now she was gone too.

He really didn't have anyone left to call 'family' but he knew that this was how life was meant to happen. He couldn’t really complain, it was just his bad luck.

It was almost 6:00pm when he returned home from the church after the funeral. He was halfway through the lawn when he noticed something peculiar. There was a strange man sitting on the front porch, and it looked like he was drowsing off.

Jisung didn't know what to do, he couldn't go into the house without waking up the man on his way and Jisung didn't know whether the stranger was just a random homeless dude or someone who had come to meet him. He couldn't really recognize the man since he wore a black hoodie which covered his whole face.

Jisung approached the man and lightly tapped him in his shoulder. The startled man flew a few inches off the ground as he tried to regain his bearings.

"I'm sorry, I had to wake you up, you're sitting in front of my door and I really need to go inside," Jisung said feeling bad for the stranger.

The man squinted up at him and his mouth turned into a wide grin. "Hello Jisung, nice to finally meet you," he said extending his hand to Jisung.

It wasn’t the kind of person Jisung was expecting. Since the hoodie covered most of his face, he couldn’t exactly tell what he looked like but he seemed about a year or two younger than he was, and was smiling in a way which reminded Jisung of a small kid.

"I'm sorry but how do you know me?" Jisung asked entirely baffled as he was positively sure he had never met this person before in his life.

"All of us know you, Jisung."

Okay, now this was getting creepy. His hand was still extended up at Jisung who hadn't retrieved it yet.

"Didn't your grandmother tell you anything?" He asked in an exasperated voice after a few seconds since he didn’t receive any response and seeing Jisung's clueless face.

Jisung suddenly remembered what she said to him at the hospital, her last words; ' _They will come for_ _you Sungie, they will escort you there'._ She had asked him to go with them. But he didn't even know who they were; they were probably serial killers for all he knew.

"Oh I'm sorry; I didn't introduce myself, how rude of me. I'm Jeongin," he said.

Jisung finally took the extended hand and shook it once. He was still too shaken up to act naturally.

"So Jeongin huh, why are you here Jeongin?"

"To take you to the Circle of course," he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What the fuck is a Circle?"

"You'll understand when the time arrives," Jeongin said.

That was the same thing Jisung's grandmother had told him when he asked her what she was talking about. It made no sense to him. His life had been perfectly normal until a stranger in a hoodie showed up in his front porch, a stranger who also happened to smile a lot. Even right now, he was grinning from ear to ear and Jisung was too terrified to even see it as a good omen.

"So, what do you say?" Jeongin asked excitedly almost bobbing up and down on his heels.

"What am I supposed to say?" Jisung asked.

"Something along the lines of 'yay I'm excited for this trip' or 'yay I finally met _the_ Yang Jeongin'."

"Umm, what trip?"

Jisung was pretty sure he was in the verge of screaming out loud. Nothing whatsoever made sense and it was getting even more confusing than it already was.

"Trip to the Circle. By the way, we are taking the subway because it's faster than the bus and you better pack up all your best clothes because they like to dress real fancy over there," Jeongin said casually.

"Is there any point asking whether I have a choice in this because I feel like you'll drag me there either way," Jisung asked sarcastically unlocking the door and going inside.

"Not really," he said. Then he winked.

He wasn't even getting a simple straight answer from this Yang Jeongin so what made him think that he had a choice on this so called 'trip'. But his grandma had asked him to go with them so he decided that he should at least listen to her last words.

"Can I at least ask who you were talking about when you mentioned about dressing real fancy?”

"You'll meet them don't worry," he said as if it was enough to compensate all this weird shit. Like that would stop him from worrying ever again. The scariest part was that he didn't even know where he was being taken to.

Jeongin followed him all the way into his room and plopped onto his bed. He had already made himself comfortable in Jisung's room and he'd just been there for no more than five minutes.

Jisung didn't know what to do, should he really just pack his bags and go to a place where he didn't even know with this stranger in a hoodie? That's when he noticed that Jeongin wasn't wearing his hoodie anymore, it was pulled back and his face was exposed for the first time.

The kid had pale pink hair which covered his forehead in an adorable way and he had dimples on either side of his cheeks. Despite his age, his facial structure was well defined and Jisung couldn’t help but notice how attractive he was.

Jisung looked away before Jeongin notices he'd been staring and started packing his luggage. He didn't exactly own anything which could be identified as fancy so he piled up random clothes from his wardrobe inside his bag until it was full to the brim.

"What else should I need?" Jisung asked from Jeongin who was examining his comic posters on his walls.

"Everything you might think you'll need," he simply said and his attention returned back to the posters.

Jisung really couldn't think of anything else to take with him so he just took his speakers and a framed photo of his family.

"I think I'm ready," Jisung said zipping up the bag.

"Alright, let's get going," Jeongin said and led the way downstairs and out of the door.

Jisung locked the door behind him and he knew he was going to miss his home where he had lived ever since his birth; he had no idea when he’ll return but he was sure that it won't be anytime soon.

**~x~**

Thankfully, the subway wasn't that crowded. Jisung was still in his funeral suit and Jeongin was wearing a simple hoodie and a pair of jeans. They probably looked like a very strange duo.

"How long will it take?"

"About three hours," Jeongin said.

He was eyeing around the compartment suspiciously as he sat down. Jisung sat next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"I can see Elves, I think they're here for some paparazzi work, they probably heard I was coming to take you," Jeongin whispered.

"Elves? Is that a code name?" Asked a confused Jisung.

Jeongin chuckled at that. "No, let me show you. I completely forgot no one has ever showed them to you yet."

"Yeah no one I met was crazy enough," Jisung sarcastically said.

"Hey, don't use that tone on me if you want to see the Elves," Jeongin said shrugging.

"Ok ok I'm sorry, show me these Elves." Jisung said rolling his eyes.

Jeongin's usual grin made an appearance in his face again. "Now this is important," he said coming closer to Jisung as if he was telling him something very confidential. "You can only see them if someone who already sees them shows them to you. So basically, you get the ability to show them to other people as well after you see them but you have to make sure to keep it a secret."

"So you can see them?" Jisung wasn't ready to believe anything until he sees it from his own eyes. "And aren't you telling me the secret right now?" He air quoted the word secret with his fingers.

"Yes, I can see them and I'm telling you because you're one of us," Jeongin said.

One of what exactly? Some cracker who believed in fairy-tale creatures? Hah, no way.

"You see that lady reading the newspaper? Look closely at her ears," Jeongin said.

Jisung looked, he saw nothing extraordinary at first but then he saw it. The woman definitely did not have human ears, they were long and pointed and it stood up beneath her hair.

"Oh my god," Jisung mouthed in surprise. "Am I going crazy?"

"No, welcome to the real world Jisung," Jeongin said patting him on the shoulder. "If you really look closely, you could see that their skin is shiny. It glistens more in the sun which makes them easily recognizable."

"Oh-" was all Jisung could say.

"You okay?"

"Yes," he lied. This was way too much to handle. For all these years living on this planet and he wasn't aware there were other beings living with them. “And you're telling me other people can’t see them?”

“No, unless someone has shown them already.”

"So, where can you find these Elves?" Jisung asked.

"Actually everywhere, in the bakeries, offices, customer service and they have complete control over the black market. Most of the gang leaders are Elves so they basically own it."

"I hope you're kidding," Jisung said.

"No, honestly they do their jobs better than most humans… fucking workaholics."

Jisung looked around the train compartment he was in. There were at least five or six Elves around them. All of them looked human at first sight, but the more you concentrated on them, the more they started to look pixie-like with pointy ears, sharp eyes and glistening skin.

"What other surprises should I be anticipating?" Jisung asked. At least he could prepare himself for all these mind-blowing shit beforehand.

"I'm pretty sure Seungmin hyung will fill you up on everything once we get there," Jeongin said. "I'm actually very sorry I cannot tell you much right now because it’s too risky, you'll understand when time arrives."

"It's okay," Jisung sighed. "Anyway who's Seungmin?"

"Oh, you'll meet him," Jeongin said smiling. "I came here to pick you up because I wanted to win a bet and I'm already winning. Otherwise, all of us were planning to come."

"What kind of bet?"

"I'll tell you that story another time, I'm sleepy right now," Jeongin said and made himself comfortable in the seat. "Wake me up in two hours," he said and drifted off.

**~x~**

The sign at the subway said that they were in Busan. Jeongin had flagged down a taxi and they were moving along a road which reminded Jisung of a tropical rain forest. On either sides of the road, trees bent over making a beautiful canopy overhead.

Jisung took out his phone to check the time; it was 11:25pm. It was amazing that the phone had service considering how everything looked so green and free of technology.

"Stop the car over there," Jeongin said to the driver pointing at a lonely spot in the side of the road.

He stopped the vehicle and turned around to face Jeongin. "Are you sure, sir? There's no accommodation in this area."

It was hilarious that Jisung was thinking along the same lines as the driver did. It clearly didn't look like a place where a civilized person could exist. But at this point, he had learnt not to question whatever Jeongin did.

"Yes, I'm sure," Jeongin said getting out of the car after paying the driver. "Drive safe," he said right before he drove off and kept waving until the car disappeared down the road.

"You can tell me now, we're lost right?" Jisung asked.

"Nope, follow me," Jeongin said and walked right into the forest which margined the road.

Jisung had no choice but to follow him right away because he didn't want to be branded alone in a lonely ass road.

Jisung switched on his phone flashlight and saw that there was a small path cleared in between the trees. He couldn't see where it ended and all his hopes were on Jeongin as to not to get lost.

They walked in silence for several minutes until Jeongin abruptly stopped.

"What's wrong? Why did we stop?" Jisung asked.

"Switch off the flashlight; she's scared to come out."

"Who?"

Jisung switched off the flashlight and they were instantaneously drowned in the darkness.

"Come out Caesar, meet a new friend. He's nice," Jeongin called out in the direction of the trees in front of them.

That's when Jisung saw the pearly green eyes coming towards them from the trees.

"Holy hell, is that-"

"Yes, one of the finest leopards I've seen," Jeongin said patting the huge feline's head. "Don't worry she's harmless," he said seeing how terrified Jisung's face looked.

"Right, harmless. Do you see its teeth?" Jisung asked inching away from the leopard who was purring and rubbing her head all over Jeongin's legs in what seemed to be an affectionate way.

"She's Hyunjin's, she only gets violent only if he asks her to be," Jeongin said. "Caesar, would you like to lead the way?"

The leopard turned around and continued walking down the path which they have followed this far and Jisung decided never to get in the bad side of whoever this Hyunjin person was. He really didn't want to get butchered by a crazy pet named fucking Caesar.

Five minutes later, Jisung found himself standing in front of a huge wrought iron gate at the end of the path. It was a mansion. The kind that belonged to the medieval era. It stood on its own in the middle of the grass lawn where manicured trees were grown in a pattern. A cobblestone road ran between the Iron Gate and the mansion and it looked like carriages have been driven on it years and years ago.

Caesar turned around and ran into the wild; probably to finish her hunting or share whatever poor animal she had managed to kill with her other cat friends. Jisung was kinda glad she left as the animal was making him very nervous.

"Welcome to the Circle," Jeongin said smiling up at Jisung.

How old was this place actually? It looked like Renaissance Kings and Queens lived there. He couldn't believe something like this existed in the middle of some inhabited forest, away from the real world.

"Uh-" was all Jisung managed to say.

Jeongin fished out a metal key from his pocket and unlocked the gate, it swung inwards making rusty noises.

It was past midnight but the lights in the lower floor of the mansion were on and some of the rooms in the upper floor were lighted too. The walls looked like they were made of bricks but somehow it had a modern finish to it as well.

They approached the oaken double doors and Jeongin knocked on the polished wood. There was some movement behind the door and within a few seconds, Jisung heard the door unlocking from the inside. Jeongin quickly dragged Jisung inside in case he changed his mind and decided to run away, which he actually had considered quite a few times.

It was some kind of an entrance hall. Right in front of the door was a royal looking staircase which went upstairs. The railing was coated in gold and it went around the balcony which overlooked the lower floor from the upper floor. There was a chandelier hung directly above them which was decorated with little crystals which reflected the light all over the huge area. Everywhere Jisung turned, it looked very sophisticated and luxurious and there were old artifacts placed here and there which probably cost more than Jisung's whole life.

"Felix, I won the bet, you and Changbin hyung owe me two months’ worth pizza," Jeongin said grinning as he usually did.

Felix was the one who had opened the door for them. He had strawberry blonde hair, a small face with freckles strewn across his cheeks. He was the definition of pretty.

"So you're Jisung?" Felix asked in a rough voice which really didn’t match the way he looked.

"Yeah."

For some reason, Jisung thought he looked kinda uncomfortable. It looked as if he was trying to stop inhaling or something.

"You look tense Felix," Jeongin said chuckling.

So it wasn't only Jisung who had noticed.

"Uh, I'm sorry," Felix said relaxing a little bit.

“Hey what’s going on here?” A platinum blonde headed man who just walked into the hallway asked. He was looking confused until his eyes fell on Jisung, then his face morphed into a big smile.

"Meet Changbin," Jeongin said gesturing at him.

"Hello,” Jisung said awkwardly smiling at him.

Jisung didn't know what to do. He had never been this awkward in his entire life and he was feeling really confused. He had no idea where he was or what was happening and the weirdest thing was, each and every one of these new people seemed to recognize him even though they'd never met each other before.

"Felix, go and call the others," Changbin said.

He didn't need to be asked twice. He ran up the staircase two steps at once probably waking up the whole house already from the sound he made.

In no time, three people were descending the staircase closely followed by Felix who seemed very excited.

"Hello, I'm sorry you had to leave Seoul in such a short notice but we didn't have any choice but to get you here as soon as possible," one of the new arrivals said in an authoritative voice. He had dark brown hair and it looked like he was the most sensible person around him right now.

"It's okay," Jisung said.

He didn't know what else he should say because he was still mad at the fact that he didn't know what was going on.

"Felix would show you to your room, if you need anything please ask us," he said. "I would have explained to you what's happening but since it’s too late we'll be having that discussion tomorrow."

"No problem," Jisung said. He was too tired to do anything right now as well and he didn’t mind waiting till next morning to hear whatever he had to say.

"Anyway I'm Seungmin," he said extending his hand. "And this is Chris and Hyunjin," he gestured to the other two people who came down with him.

Chris looked like he was shaken up from his peaceful sleep, which was probably what happened exactly and he was still extremely disoriented and groggy when he shook hands with Jisung.

Hyunjin on the other hand was an entirely different story; he looked completely alert and awake and Jisung had no words to describe him other than perfection. He suddenly understood what Jeongin said about ‘dress fancy’ and he could easily see why this person could own a goddamn leopard. Hyunjin swiftly nodded and smiled reassuringly at him.

But Jisung was too distracted to smile back at him. Behind them, stood another man who was wearing blue pajamas, someone whom Jisung hadn't noticed before. Maybe he came downstairs when Jisung wasn't looking or something because he definitely wasn’t there a few moments ago.

Jisung regretted it the moment he made eye contact with him. His breath hitched in his throat and he looked away as soon as possible. The way the man's icy stare burnt through his skull made him feel almost faintish. It was unnaturally cold and tense; almost demon-like, it was scary.

Maybe it was just in his head but he felt like he had made enemies already in this new place. And he barely even talked to anyone yet.

For some reason he felt like crying, he had been holding up for too long. Too long ever since his grandma died, ever since he indirectly got kidnapped from his home, ever since he had to come to this new place. He hadn't even cried at his grandma’s funeral, he had held it back. He could feel the tears stinging in the back of his eyelids but he wasn't gonna cry in front of all these people.

He let it all out alone in his new room which had been prepared for him hoping that no one would hear him bawling his eyes out at two o'clock in the morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the pilot chapter and I can assure you, you're up for a ride.
> 
> This story was once a fiction of the previous fandom I was in but I couldn't complete the story because I wasn't in love with the character dynamics anymore. But since I really love this story and wanted to complete it i took it down so I can complete it with different characters from a different fandom. 
> 
> Please leave lots of kudos and comments, it really helps a lot :)
> 
> Follow me on:  
> twitter - [@agustrachaa](https://twitter.com/agustrachaa?lang=en)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another chapter, and things are starting to make sense (or not ;D)
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!!
> 
> TW - This chapter contains minor violence.

"Sir, the birds just confirmed, the _Superbia_ mission is complete. _Acedia_ was a success."

"Hmm, good. How are the others holding up?"

"Don't know yet, sir. They haven't gone out in a while-"

"Get me information on them as soon as possible Lee."

"Okay, sir."

**~x~**

It was nine o'clock the morning and he hadn't slept a wink. He’d been up all night crying into his pillow and now he was feeling extremely drowsy. But he had a meeting with Seungmin in a few hours so he didn't really have the choice to go back to sleep.

It was Chris who took the pleasure of showing him around the house ever since he got lost on his way to the kitchen that morning. Jisung knew it would take him about a week or two to get used to all the corridors and rooms which resembled a maze at this point.

Unlike the previous night, Chris seemed very diligent and looked like he’d actually got some sound sleep. He was extremely friendly and talkative and he had dimples on his cheeks too, just like Jeongin, and they showed up whenever he smiled. Jisung didn’t know why but all of the people he had met so far who resided in this house had been quite attractive. Chris introduced himself as the eldest of the lot and he had this really cheery personality which Jisung liked a lot.

"Thank you Chris," Jisung said as he showed him to the library.

"Seungmin will be waiting inside for you," Chris said. “By the way, you can also call me Chan, if you want,” he said with a wink before he left Jisung alone at the door.

He stood there for a while staring at the door thinking if he should knock first or just open it and go inside but he decided on knocking first. It felt more appropriate.

After a series of muted footsteps the door opened and Hyunjin came out of the room holding a wine bottle. He was wearing all white from head to toe and it strangely complimented with his jet black hair which was parted in the middle. His facial features glowed more clearly in the day light and Jisung yet again found himself getting completely mesmerized by him.

"Hello Jisung," he said smiling brightly. "Go inside, it would be better if you two were alone with no disturbances."

Jisung nodded with a smile and went inside the library closing the door behind him.

It was a cozy room; numerous bookshelves with hundreds and hundreds of books were lined up against the walls and ladders were placed around to reach the books in the topmost shelves. In the middle of the room there were two work-tables, cushions were strewn across the floor for the people who wanted to sit comfortably while they read.

One of the tables was occupied by Seungmin who was reading a book called _Dynasty_ and there was a huge pile of books on the table in front of him.

"Come sit down," he said gesturing at the chair opposite to him.

Jisung did as he was told and waited until Seungmin closed the book he was reading, marking the page he was at with a bookmark.

"So, I guess you might be feeling a little bit deceived, frustrated and maybe very annoyed huh," he said in a conversing tone.

Jisung raised one of his eyebrows. Was this even a question? He was taken away from his home without a single explanation and was kept in the dark for an entire day without knowing what was really happening around him. It already felt like he was living a lie and obviously, it was natural to feel deceived and frustrated.

"Yeah, am I here for answers or is it just another pep talk?" Jisung asked trying not to sound rude. He didn't want Seungmin to be in his bad side too.

"Yes you are here for answers. But let me ask you one question, what do you know about the Capital Vices?"

"The what?" Jisung asked.

"Also known as the Seven Deadly Sins-"

"Oh yeah, heard about them," Jisung said nodding. "What about it?"

Jisung didn't know where this conversation was leading up to and it felt like another history lesson so he wasn't rather thrilled as well. Even throughout high school, he was never particularly interested on the subject.

"What if I told you that they existed in human form?" Seungmin asked with a light smirk playing across his lips.

Jisung stared blankly at Seungmin for a few seconds. He clearly hadn't heard it correct, had he? Or Seungmin was not as senile as he had expected him to be when he’d first met him.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah yeah I know it's a lot to take in but they do really exist in human form," Seungmin said calmly and completely missing the point of Jisung's question.

But just yesterday, he had seen some weird shit, people who had long ears and glowing skin which Jeongin had _introduced_ to him as Elves. Nothing should have surprised him after learning that humans weren't alone in this world but this was way too much to handle.

"Hold on for a second, why am I listening to you and why the fuck should I believe you?" Jisung asked incredulously.

Seungmin seemed a bit taken aback for a second but he managed to regain his calm composure.

"Yes you do have a point, even I wouldn't have believed in myself if I was in the same position as you," he said as if it made everything better.

Jisung chuckled sarcastically. He just needed to know what’s happening and so far, he wasn't getting any proper answer.

"Okay, let’s just say I do believe you," Jisung said. "But how do these Deadly Sins relate to what’s going on anyway?"

"It relates to everything, more than you can imagine."

"Umm, how exactly?"

Seungmin took out a single book from the pile he had in front of him on the table. Jisung didn't get a chance to read the title but the book looked ancient. He flipped through the pages until he reached a chapter called 'The Early History'.

"Let's start from the beginning shall we," Seungmin said looking a tad bit excited.

There was something very pure in his smile, almost childlike. Jisung couldn't possibly stay mad at him for long.

"The dates aren't very clearly mentioned but we can assume this was based on the 15th or the 16th century because that’s the era when the witches were out there," Seungmin said. "Anyway, according to this book, it had been one of these witches who’d cursed the first men-"

"What first men?"

"The original sins. Well, the curse was actually supposed to turn out bad, obviously, but the first men had turned it around to be a gift rather than a curse-"

Jisung felt like he'd heard something very similar before. His grandma used to tell him stories about seven young men who could control human emotions. Could this possibly be another more accurate version of the same story he heard as a child? And could it mean his grandma knew about all this before she passed away?

"They could not only control their sin but they were able to control its relative virtue at the same time which made them extremely powerful among mankind-"

Yes it was the same damn story, just another version with some mad witch who had cursed the men.

"I still don't get how any of this concerns me or the situation I’m in right now," Jisung said.

He was either extremely dumb or he was missing a very important point in this conversation. It was unnerving that Seungmin was looking very smug as he continued on with his story.

"I thought you already had some idea when you arrived here, but seems like you don’t" Seungmin said.

"Huh?" Jisung asked dumbly. Of course he didn't know anything. Even Jeongin hadn't told him anything because he had been too scared to risk it in public.

"God damn it Jisung, how clueless are you?"

"I don't know?"

"The men in that story; the original sins, they were our ancestors," Seungmin said rolling his eyes.

At this point Jisung was ready to laugh out loud, it was getting way out of hand. What kind of drugs were they on? None of them were in their right minds.

"Very funny Seungmin, so what sin am I?" Jisung asked sarcastically.

" _Pride_ ," he simply said.

Jisung had only been joking when he had asked Seungmin the question and he definitely wasn’t expecting an answer from him at all because it just sounded too stupid to believe. It had been just light hearted humor for Jisung and he only realized how serious the other was when he actually replied to him.

"Wait you're serious," Jisung said. He said that more to himself than to Seungmin.

"Why wouldn't I be serious?"

"Because this is some crazy ass shit to even think about," Jisung snapped at Seungmin.

Seungmin inhaled sharply and sighed.

"Haven’t you always been a tad too self-obsessed, aren’t you the kind of person who’d think you’re better than the rest just because you’re you? Huh?” Seungmin asked. "Think hard before you answer."

Jisung had never really thought about this before but what Seungmin said was true. He had always been very sure of himself, maybe more than that; proud of himself. Always confident in whatever he did, but this couldn’t possibly be because of some sin? More specifically, because of damn _Pride?_

"Maybe because that’s my personality?" Jisung said raising an eyebrow.

"How hard is it to convince you?" Seungmin took the book called _Dynasty_ which he had been reading before and kept it in front of Jisung. "This book explains about everything; our powers, how our minds work, our heritage and about other non-human species living with us. It's written by one of my great great grandfathers-"

Jisung took the book tentatively and looked at the cover. There was nothing interesting on it except for the title of the book which was written in swirly handwriting.

"Do you still not believe me Jisung?" Seungmin asked, his lips were pressed into a tight line.

"No, still sounds very stupid to me."

"I can't help your stubbornness but you got to know that your _Aura_ is stronger than before because you’re aware of your identity now-"

"Hold up, what's an _Aura_?" Jisung asked.

"It's like this power emanating from your body," Seungmin explained. "It gradually gets stronger as you grow up but since your parents weren't there you had no one to tell you about it and your _Aura_ was stuck inside you for longer than it is normal."

It was actually kind of similar to seeing the _Elves;_ Jisung thought. You won't see them until someone shows them to you. And your _Aura_ doesn't release until you've been told who you are.

"It's best if you start learning how to control it because we're having a hard time in your presence, and your _Aura_ is pride. It sometimes gets pretty nasty because- uhh- you know-"

For the first time Seungmin didn't seem to find the proper words to say to Jisung, it was almost funny to see him struggling for words.

"Anyway, you had a strong _Aura_ with you even before you got to know about it," Seungmin was impeccably rambling at this point.

"What do you mean it's hard to stay in my presence and if it bothers you so much how do I control it?" Jisung asked.

"Uh, I don't know how to explain this to you," Seungmin said. "Basically, you're inducing inferiority on other people and that's the nicest way I can explain this to you."

"Oh," Jisung said.

This was the last thing Jisung wanted; more bad feelings on him than he already has. And he really didn't want to be a nuisance to other people by his mere presence. He hadn’t asked for this.

"How do you control it?" He asked from Seungmin.

"Well, usually your parents teach you how to control it at a small age but since this is an exceptional case I guess one of us has to teach you," Seungmin said. "The best among us is Minho hyung, I'll ask him to tutor you."

Minho? Jisung didn't recall meeting anyone like that yesterday... well anyone if he didn't count the man in blue pajamas; he never got to know his name because of very obvious reasons.

"Jisung, is there a problem?" Seungmin asked sensing the unexpected change of mood.

"No- no I was wondering if someone else could tutor me, like Jeongin or Chris… or even you? Wouldn't it be better if it's someone I already know?" Jisung asked trying to make it sound casual.

“I won’t be able to tutor you because I’m not a sin, Jisung,” Seungmin said with a slight smile. “I’m here because of the knowledge I have, because of all the things I know about this reality. My ancestors were the ancient book keepers who recorded everything regarding this world.”

It took a while for Jisung to process that. Basically, this guy was ancient history in human form? It anyway made sense if you think about how there were eight people living in the house but only seven sins existed.

"Anyway I think Minho hyung would be the best to tutor you and he already has the experience because he had to deal with Jeongin when he first came in. The boy was still a teenager when he joined us so his _Aura_ was really messed up. Minho hyung managed to set it right," Seungmin said.

Honestly speaking, Jisung had hoped and hoped that he wouldn't be meeting the blue pajama dude (now he had a name, Minho) when he woke up that morning. But he should have known better, they lived in the same house for God's sake what was he even thinking? Hiding for the rest of his life while he lived there? He was a damn adult, he better act like one and get along with everyone in the mansion keeping aside their differences.

"Okay," Jisung agreed with a grimace.

**~x~**

Jisung didn't have Chan to show him the route to his room this time and he ended up in the kitchen and it didn't look like the best time to accidentally walk in there. It looked like Jeongin and Felix were fighting about something with Hyunjin.

"I'm sorry, I cannot find my way to my room I'll just leave," Jisung tried to back away while apologizing but Hyunjin called out his name before he could extract himself from there.

"Jisung, would you come shopping with me? They don't want to go with me because their games are more important it seems," Hyunjin said pouting, pointing at the other two who didn't look guilty at all.

Maybe it happened on a daily basis and they were probably used to all the petty remarks because none of them even looked surprised.

"Not in the mood to go shopping Hyunjin," Felix said.

Hyunjin completely ignored Felix's comment and turned to face Jisung.

"Would you come with me, Jisung?" Hyunjin asked smiling brightly.

Jisung really didn't feel like turning down his request after his friends ditched him and he didn't have anything planned to do in the evening either, so he decided to go. And it would be a good chance to get to know Hyunjin.

"Alright," Jisung said. "When are we going?"

"Yay, we're leaving now," Hyunjin said taking hold of his hand and dragging him away. "Good bye suckers," he flipped his middle finger at Jeongin and Felix as they passed.

"Have fun," Jeongin said chuckling to himself.

"Oh yeah, we will," Hyunjin muttered to himself so that only Jisung could hear.

Hyunjin dragged Jisung through a part of the house which he hasn’t got the chance to explore yet. They exited from what appeared to be the back of the mansion which looked the complete opposite from the front of it.

It almost looked like no one had lived there for years, the walls were degrading and the lawn was filled with weeds and shrubs making it look like a mini forest.

"Why is no one cleaning this side?" Jisung asked in curiosity.

"Because the back gate directly connects to a road and we try to hide our existence as much as possible, we don't even use the rooms in this side in case anyone sees through the windows," Hyunjin explained.

"Then why did Jeongin take me through a damn forest yesterday if we had easy access?"

"Because the taxi driver might get suspicious if he dropped you here, while the other road is only just a forest. And Jeongin doesn't have his license either, he's not supposed to drive," Hyunjin said laughing.

What Hyunjin said made sense. And it made Jisung realize that they value their privacy more than anything else.

"Wait a second, we need to get Caesar first-" Hyunjin said. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.

So the cat responded to whistles as well? Jisung was quite impressed at how trained the animal was but he was still scared of it.

"We're taking her with us?" Jisung asked.

"Of course, but he won't come in to the shops, they sadly don't allow her, she'll stay in the car," Hyunjin said and whistled again.

In the car? Jisung was suddenly not in the mood to go shopping anymore. In such close quarters with a fucking carnivore? He must be going insane to even consider it. But it was too late to back down now. Caesar was already coming towards them in an extremely majestic way. Jisung had never seen cats walk like that before.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Hyunjin said as he bent down to attach a leash to her collar which was a black leather strip with metal spikes attached to it.

They had to walk around the house to the garage and Jisung was surprised to see the cars when Hyunjin flicked on a bulb. There were four cars and all of them looked really expensive. Jisung didn’t even want to think about how much they cost because the little mental calculation he did was enough to make his head spin.

"What's yours?" Jisung asked from Hyunjin while he examined the vehicles.

"The white S class," Hyunjin said. "I like big cars unlike the rest of them, and I can take Caesar with me if I want to"

He opened the backseat of the car and Caesar got inside like she’s doing it for the millionth time. Jisung was extremely glad that the shutters were tinted dark black. Jisung decide at once that he isn't going in the back seat with the leopard and climbed into the passenger seat since it was his only option.

They were in the road within two minutes since there were no forests to hike and he was already enjoying not having to walk through potential danger.

Caesar was keeping her head on the armrest between the front seats and Hyunjin was patting its head while he drove with the other hand. Jisung's elbow and Caesar's teeth was just mere inches apart and he couldn't help but feel nervous even though the animal seemed rather tame and well behaved.

"How was the meeting with Seungmin?" Hyunjin asked.

"It was okay I guess, but I still don't completely believe him-"

"What exactly don't you believe?"

"Umm, a bit of everything? He told me I'm a human manifestation of _Pride;_ the deadly sin. I don't even know whether I should be offended or not," Jisung said making Hyunjin laugh out loud. It was a pleasing sound to hear.

"What else did he say?" Hyunjin asked.

"Told me to learn how to control my _Aura_ because apparently it's very overpowering-"

"Oh yeah, you should. You have no idea what you're making me feel right now," Hyunjin said on a rather serious note.

It was weird to see him being serious because Jisung was only used to seeing Hyunjin's soft and giggly side up until now.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Jisung asked. He still had no idea what extent his so called powers were used for.

"No I don’t have a problem; I think none of us have a problem. We are rather exceptional at controlling ourselves. Especially Jeongin; he's usually immune to everything except maybe for _lust_ ,” he said with a smirk. “That's why we sent him to get you. Even your _Aura_ didn't affect him at all so he won the damn bet," Hyunjin explained.

So it was something like _'try not to get affected by Jisung while you provide transportation to him_ _halfway through the country'_ and you get a months’ worth of pizza if you succeed. Sounded like a very fair deal to Jisung.

"But why is he immune?" Jisung asked curiously.

Hyunjin thought for a while in silence.

"I think it's something to do with his Vice, I mean his sin," Hyunjin said. "He's our _Acedia,_ more commonly known as _Sloth_ , and he's particularly very unmotivated when it comes to feelings."

"So he's _Sloth_... what about you?" Jisung asked.

" _Lust_ ," Hyunjin said with a small smile.

Suddenly everything made a whole lot of sense to Jisung, about how he couldn’t take his eyes off the person sitting next to him when they’ve first met, about how attractive he was, even the way he talked. Now that Jisung thought of it, everything about this man seemed lustful.

"My _Aura_ used to be really bad when I was growing up, you can imagine right? But I learned how to control it to the point where I can use it on others to even make them drown in lust if I want to."

"You can do that?" Jisung asked amazed.

"Yes. If you sharpen your mind enough, you get the ability to enforce your powers on others; it can be used for evil or for greatness. It’s your choice really."

Seungmin hadn't told him any of this, maybe because he thought this amount of new information would be too much for him. Either way, it still sounded like a fairytale to him.

“You were saying how Jeongin was unable to resist lust?” Jisung asked, curiosity taking over him.

“Oh yeah, the kid can’t resist me,” Hyunjin said laughing. “But these days he’d been getting quite good at shutting me down. He has a strong mind especially knowing that Minho taught him the basics of mind-control”

"How good is Minho as a tutor? Seungmin told me he's the best," Jisung said hoping Hyunjin would volunteer to help him since he was still dreading the upcoming mind lessons with Minho.

"I cannot think of anyone better than him, you're in good hands," Hyunjin said confidently. "You'll be an expert within days no doubt," he said encouragingly.

"Oh... okay," Jisung said and drifted off to his own thoughts.

They didn't talk until Hyunjin pulled up the car in front of a designer clothing shop. Of course, it was Hyunjin. Not many people seemed to be shopping, probably because not many people could afford what's in the racks.

"No honey, you can't come with us, they don't let beautiful people inside the shop," Hyunjin was saying to Caesar as the leopard attempted to climb over the seat to follow Hyunjin out of the car. "Stay here, we'll come quickly alright?"

The leopard made a grunting noise and slid back to the back seat.

"Good girl," Hyunjin said opening the sun roof halfway to let air in and locking the car doors.

"Would she escape?" Jisung asked concerned about the pedestrians' well-being more than he cared about the leopard getting lost.

"No she wouldn't. Even if she tries to escape, the opening isn't wide enough for her to squeeze through."

The guard at the entrance nodded swiftly at Hyunjin and smiled at him in greeting. He must be a regular customer of the store by the looks of it.

"Good evening Mr. Hwang, I wasn't expecting you today," a man wearing a pinstriped suit approached them with a big smile plastered across his face. He appeared to be the manager of the store.

At once, Jisung noticed that the man wasn't human. He was an Elf; Jisung could see the long ears prominently through his black mop of hair and the skin glowed like diamonds in the store lighting.

"Good evening Mr. Kwon, let us see the new arrivals," Hyunjin said. "By the way, meet Han Jisung, I'm gonna replace Jeongin with him as my best friend," he introduced Jisung with a playful smile.

"Oh, nice to meet you Mr. Han," Kwon extended a hand at him. Jisung received it and shook it twice.

"Come with me Mr. Hwang, I'll show you the new arrivals," Kwon said. He took them to a secluded corner of the shop where the said items were hung on a separate rack.

"Actually, these are not for sale until Tomorrow but I'll let you try them on because you're one of our frequent customers. If you like anything, I'll get them delivered to you after tomorrow," Kwon said.

"That's nice of you," Hyunjin said and took a white shirt which had a silver lining along the edges off the rack to try out. "Jisung you're trying out anything?" he asked Jisung who was originally planning to watch while Hyunjin shopped without actually buying anything.

"It's not like I can afford any of these," Jisung said rolling his eyes.

"Oh yes you can," Hyunjin said flipping out a card from his pocket. "You have no idea how much our dear ancestors have saved for us."

Jisung took the card from Hyunjin's hand for closer inspection. "Is this an actual black card?"

"Yes, I don't own fakes Jisung," Hyunjin sarcastically said. "I'm going to check out the shoes. See whether there's anything you might like, Kwon here will help you."

"Sure Mr. Hwang, I'll help him," the manager said at Hyunjin's retreating figure.

Actually, the clothes were pretty nice if you ignore their price tags and Jisung really needed some new clothes; designer or not because he had to leave most of his clothes back at his house because he only packed one single suitcase.

"What do you think about this? It's from Chanel, one of their best-selling," Kwon took a deep blue dress shirt off its hanger to show it to Jisung.

"That's really nice. I actually like the color, it's beautiful," Jisung said taking the shirt from Kwon and putting it over his t-shirt to see how it fits.

"Wait, let me help you with it," he said coming over Jisung to button up his sleeves and to flatten down the collar.

“Ah no I’m fine,” Jisung said as he didn’t want to bother the salesman.

“So Mr. Han you think you’re better than me?” Kwon abruptly asked sending Jisung into a state of confusion.

“I’m sorry, what?” Jisung asked.

“You think you know better than me?” He asked yet again and there was this dazed off look in his eyes. “I’ve been in this business for more than 10 years, Mr. Han.”

And the next thing Jisung knew, there was a goddamn knife being held against his throat. He was way too bewildered to react, or to even form a proper sentence to defend himself. He was certain that he didn’t say anything triggering to Kwon to be held at knife point like this.

It seemed like Kwon was in a trance or something, the man had been completely fine ten seconds ago. Something is definitely off and Jisung was too shocked to figure out what happened.

Jisung slowly felt the knife point piercing the upper layer of his skin and a small drop of blood fell near his feet, glistening red on the white tiles

"Back off Kwon." It was Hyunjin. He rushed in between the two of them and held the man by his shirt collar. Kwon still seemed unfazed and his elfish eyes were still focused on Jisung over Hyunjin's shoulder.

Hyunjin slapped the man squarely on his face and the sound echoed eerily over the silence. "Wake up Kwon; you're not in your right mind. You know who he is, you should have known how to deal with yourself," Hyunjin was positively growling now.

"Kwon, you're better than this. Get out of your fucking daze.

At this, Kwon's mouth twitched and he made a sound like he was about to choke. Hyunjin took away his hand from his collar and came over to Jisung who was still standing in the same spot, unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Are you okay? Did he do anything?" Worried eyes traveled all over him and landed on the place where the knife had made the small cut on his throat.

"Oh god what did I do?" Kwon said from the back. He has finally woken up from his daze. "I'm so sorry Mr. Han, I-"

"Shut it," Hyunjin cut him off and turned back to Jisung. He took out his car keys and gave them to Jisung. "Go to the car. I'll deal with this and come."

Jisung didn't need telling twice. He only properly started breathing again when he made sure he was safely locked inside the car. Caesar came behind him and rested her big head on his shoulder and nuzzled onto him affectionately. It was almost as if she knew something was bothering him, as if she knew that she needed to comfort him in some way she can. And for the first time, Jisung didn't try to move away from the leopard.

They stayed there without moving while Caesar nuzzled into Jisung's neck until Hyunjin came back from the store.

"I'm so sorry, it's all my fault I shouldn't have left you there alone," Hyunjin said and it looked like he was about to kill somebody. "I shouldn't have even asked you to come; I wasn't thinking properly I was so selfish, I'm really sorry for everything Jisung."

"It's okay Hyunjin, I didn't know this would happen either, it's not your fault. I should have at least moved away from him, I really don't know what happened," Jisung said trying to calm Hyunjin down.

"I still should have foreseen this happening, with your strong _Aura_ and everything... god I’m so fucking dumb," Hyunjin was still ranting without end. “He felt insecure around you, insecure to the point where he was ready to inflict physical harm on you, this isn’t okay.”

"Do you mean that I have that same effect on you guys as well?" Jisung asked.

"Yes but we know why it’s happening and we control it. And Kwon has no excuse because he knew who you were, I mean he's an elf; they know everything, but he still acted irresponsible," Hyunjin said. "What if I was too late? I would have never forgiven myself."

"Stop beating up yourself over it Hyunjin, you saved my fucking life. I owe you that," Jisung said.

It was that moment when Jisung decided to go to Minho no matter how much he hated the very idea of it. He’d do anything to learn how to control his Aura if it affected his life this way. He'd just seen from his own eyes how much damage it can cause if wasn’t dampened down.

For all he knew, he could have been murdered in a goddamn designer clothing store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So 3/7 sins are uncovered who do you think the rest will be?
> 
> Also please keep in mind that none of the sins are purely based on their actual personalities, it's all fiction guys!
> 
> Drop a comment and leave some kudos if you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so much for reading it means a lot :)
> 
> Follow me on:  
> twitter - [@agustrachaa](https://twitter.com/agustrachaa?lang=en)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys Chapter 3 is up and the tags have been updated as well.
> 
> There's gonna be a semi-major depiction of graphic violence and a little smutty scene with Changlix. If by any chance you get uncomfortable with these topics, please do not continue.
> 
> Also you'll be meeting some new characters in this chap
> 
> Enjoy~

She wasn't screaming, she wasn't even begging for mercy which annoyed Lee to some point. She just kept staring directly into his eyes, not even a bit unfazed of the fact that she was tied to a rotatable wooden plank; aka, his favorite waterboarding toy.

They were in a warehouse and no one lived in this area of the city. That was the main reason why Lee had chosen to make this place his official "Torture House". It was just the perfect place for it.

Lee had been expecting answers, but he wasn't getting any and the fact that this woman wasn't taking him serious enough irked him so much that he had a hard time controlling his anger. He knew he had to calm down first before anything if he wanted to get at least a word out of her. But so far, it had been impossible to get her talking.

He might be a man of brutality, but hurting women was something he didn't agree upon. But she was leaving him no choice and was being extremely stubborn and Lee was running out of his patience as well. Time was running out and he wasn't enjoying this interrogation at all which was surprising since he absolutely loved tormenting people in every other situation.

"Miss Yang, this will be the last time I'm going to be civil with you so better fucking answer my question without wasting both of our precious time, I’m sure you have loads of things to do rather than being tied up to a torture device," Lee said going up to the woman and standing in front of her, face to face. "Tell me, is there any way you could gain access into the premises without anyone knowing about it?"

"How many times are you planning on asking me the same question? It's getting boring," she lazily said with a light smirk. She was legit making a fool out of him and he wasn't going to tolerate that anymore.

"Fucking bitch," he muttered under his breath.

Something flashed in her eyes and the next moment he knew, his whole face was covered in some watery liquid. She had spat on him and it was dripping down his face to the floor.

"Don't you dare call me a bitch, you asshole-" Yang hissed at Lee and that’s when he knew that he'd finally struck a nerve.

"I hope you know that you're not in any position to threaten me, miss," he said taking a step backwards in case she decides to spit on him again. "Kyung, take her down."

The man who had been standing in the shadows all throughout the conversation came forwards with a basin of water in his hands. Kyung was his favorite command taker; he was a mute and had the brain capacity of a mule which made him extremely perfect for the job.

Lee watched as Kyung lowered the plank until Yang's head was placed lower than the rest of her body. Then he placed a thin cloth covering her entire face and started pouring the water from the basin onto the cloth in a steady stream.

Lee always liked to use this tactic on his victims, it was silent and peaceful. No one screamed, no need of restrains except for the ropes, it was just perfect. The only sound reaching his ear was the constant flow of water and the faint sound of gurgling as the feeling of drowning hit the victim.

"Enough!" He said making his way towards Yang.

Kyung kept the water basin aside and rotated the wooden plank around so the woman stood vertical again.

Lee threw away the cloth which was sticking to her face and she spluttered and coughed out the water from her lungs making choking sounds which was almost too painful to hear. She was drenched and it looked like she had a nose bleed as well. The water running from her nose was tinted dark red and it was staining her clothes.

"Are we ready for some answers now?" Lee asked in a tauntingly evil voice.

"No and you're a fucking cunt!" She croaked out and it was obvious that talking was making her lungs deteriorate even more after the extreme abuse they received.

"Again!" Lee snapped at Kyung and he obeyed without asking further questions.

It was the same process over again but this time Yang wasn't even trying to hold her breath at this point; she was sucking it all up sensing it was the easier way to go but Lee had other plans in his mind.

"Take her up, I didn't have enough fun with her stubborn ass yet," Lee said and Kyung lifted the plank up again.

"I give you one last chance Yang, take it or leave it," he said when she was done coughing out the bloody water from her mouth.

"I guess you'll have to kill me then," she said without even giving a second thought about it.

"Whatever you want Yang, I guess they'll miss you a lot," Lee said in a feigned apologetic voice. "You know what to do Kyung, leave her face so people can recognize her. And don't forget to send them the pictures of your masterpiece; they'd be very impressed-"

Kyung took out a small knife with a sharp edge which shone in the light and nodded his head to tell that he understood what Lee said.

"What is he going to do to me?" Yang asked and it looked like she was panicking for the first time ever since she was brought here.

Lee chose to ignore her.

"Better start it now or you'll be here till next morning. Good luck Kyung," he said before leaving the warehouse.

The screaming only started when he was almost outside the building but Lee never turned back to see what was happening behind him, he'd already seen people getting skinned a few hundred times before, it was nothing special. He left the building humming under his breath with a satisfied smirk in his face.

His boss needed to know he did what had to be done but before reporting to him, he decided to go for a drink. He really deserved that break.

**Jeongin**

"It's alright, you don't have to make yourself feel so bad," Jeongin said to Hyunjin who was frowning up at the ceiling.

They were sitting in front of the TV which was switched off, and they were just talking to each other about what happened earlier that day. . They were supposed to be watching a movie but Hyunjin had been too distracted for that.

"I shouldn't have taken him with me in the first place with his _Aura_ unleashed like that. I was stupid," Hyunjin said. "I hope he's alright though. That shit could traumatize anyone"

"Come on let's not talk about that now, everyone makes mistakes-"

Jeongin knew what happened with Jisung at the store was making Hyunjin very worried and anxious. He hated it when Hyunjin was in a bad mood; he needed to come up with something to lighten up the situation before Hyunjin gets even more hysterical.

"Everyone makes mistakes but no one makes dumb mistakes like me," Hyunjin said monotonously.

Well, here comes the self-pity. Jeongin sighed and looked at Hyunjin across the couch. "Whatever you say," he said shrugging. “But if it weren’t for you, there would have been very bad consequences you know, if you didn’t get there in time and stopped the man, there would have been serious damage.”

Hyunjin didn’t say anything for a while. It looked like he was thinking about something.

“Hmm you’re right,” Hyunjin finally said. “But you see, it bothers me even more knowing that Jisung was unable to do anything to protect himself back there. He already had a half an inch long cut across his neck. Thank god the knife didn’t go any deeper.”

“He was probably too terrified to react,” Jeongin said. “I mean, he’d already been through a lot within the past three days and this was the cherry on top… except that it isn’t a cherry, maybe a rotten tomato?”

“Yeah definitely a rotten tomato,” Hyunjin replied with a small smile and a chuckle.

**Changbin**

Changbin couldn’t remember the last time Felix had been this needy for some action.

They’ve been dating for quite a while now, one year and five months to be exact since their relationship has become official. Before that, it just had been casual flings and random hookups for more than six months until Changbin had finally mustered up the courage to actually ask him out during a car ride. Life had been a lot better and happier for Changbin ever since.

They were side by side on the bed and Felix’s hand was already inside Changbin’s pants, palming his bulge with a light smirk playing across his face.

“I was about to sleep Felix,” Changbin said rolling his eyes.

“Nothing has ever made you back down before,” Felix replied as his hand slipped under the waistband of Changbin’s underwear making him sigh in defeat.

Felix always had a tendency to get away with whatever he wanted from Changbin and he wasn’t about to complain either. It felt good.

“Come here you little shit-” Changbin said as he turned around to kiss the goddamn smirk off of the other’s lips. His lips were soft, as always.

Felix’s hand was moving up and down the length of Changbin’s cock in such a perfect pace which made him splutter and groan into the kiss and his other unoccupied hand was locked around Changbin’s neck pulling them closer against each other.

“Let me ride you,” Felix said in a low voice, and he didn’t seem even a tad bit embarrassed at what he’d just proposed.

“Oh damn whatever the fuck happened to you today?” Changbin asked incredulously but nevertheless, reached for his bedside cabinet to get the lube he kept their out of one of the drawers. It wasn’t everyday when Felix took the initiative, it was usually Changbin so he just let him do his thing when the other was in the mood to lead.

Felix took the bottle in his hands, got a generous amount of lube in his fingers and continued to stroke Changbin in the same pace slicking his cock with expertise with the lube in his hands and Changbin managed to slide down the pants the other was wearing within no time. Felix was already hard and dripping even though he was still completely untouched.

Felix straddled over Changbin’s legs and turned around so that they were face to face. Changbin hoisted himself up from his elbow to give him a quick kiss and to ask if he was ready which Felix responded with an enthusiastic nod.

“No prep?”

“No need,” Felix said as he aligned himself with Changbin’s cock and slowly lowered himself down until his ass was in contact with the other’s thighs. It was a day full of surprises for Changbin.

“You’re okay?” he asked from Felix who had paused for a bit to adjust around his cock.

“Of course I am,” Felix replied rolling his eyes. “Let’s get to business shall we-”

_Meanwhile..._

**Jisung**

Jisung couldn't take it anymore, someone was having sex in the room right next to his bed-side wall and he was cursing at every single person about how much his life sucked at the moment.

It had started out very quietly, only faint moaning and he had actually thought it was someone just jerking himself off until all hell broke loose. Whoever they were, they weren't just moaning anymore, they were literally crying out loud and he could hear the sickening thump of skin slapping together and the immense creaking of a wooden bed frame.

He had the slightest memory that Changbin used the room next to him but who was the other person with him? Jisung had no idea. He was running low on sleep for two consecutive days but with this noise, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep with a sane mind.

Jisung collected his blanket and his pillow and went out of the room hoping he might find a place to just lie down until next morning. He went downstairs and found his way to the living room (at least he remembered what Chris showed him earlier that day). He was hoping to lie down on the sofa and get some sleep but the problem was, there was already someone laying on it reading something which looked like a biography. If Jisung wasn't mistaken, it was almost 2 o'clock in the bloody morning.

A sudden chill went down Jisung's spine upon realizing who it was, as if a bucket of ice had been dumped on his head. It was Minho. He even considered turning back and going somewhere else to find another place to sleep in but it was too late; Minho saw him before he had the chance to run away.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a kinda sleepy but a pleasant voice. At least he didn't sound like he wanted to kill Jisung like he had been expecting.

"I cannot sleep in my room, people are having sex against my wall," Jisung truthfully said. He decided that there was no point lying to him.

Minho's mouth turned upwards forming a small smile and Jisung just realized that he's seeing him smile for the first time ever. Heck, this was the first time Jisung was even seeing him properly. He was about two or three inches taller than Jisung was, had extremely sharp features and his hair was dark black with a blue tint on it. He also had double piercings on one of his ears and Jisung found this all very interesting.

"Changbin probably forgot that the room next to his is no more unoccupied, you better tell him next morning to keep it the fuck down or you'll be sleeping on a couch or somewhere on weekly basis," Minho said.

Jisung sighed and sat down on a vacant chair. He just needed some sleep and he wasn't getting any at the moment.

"Do I really have to tell him?" Jisung asked. He didn’t really want to get involved in Changbin’s sex life, but the curiosity took the better of him. "Who’s with him in there anyway?"

It looked like Minho was enjoying this way more than he was as he literally chuckled at Jisung's question.

"It's Felix with him, those little dumbasses I swear-"

"What? Felix? And Changbin? They are a thing?" Jisung asked incredulously. “Who else is a thing?”

“No one else, as far as I know,” Minho said scratching his chin. “Hyunjin and Jeongin have this weird dynamic between themselves but I wouldn’t be worried about those two-” he added as an after-thought.

"Oh okay- anyway, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping at this hour?" Jisung asked. “Unless someone is having sex against your wall as well-”

Minho didn’t answer straight away. He closed the book he was reading and straightened up his posture all the while staring directly at Jisung. And he was getting uncomfortable as fuck.

"I just couldn't sleep," he simply said, frowning a bit. "It was getting tiring just staring up at the same goddamn ceiling till I fell asleep so I came down here to read a book."

Jisung could see that there was something bothering the dude but he couldn't ask him. He was still kind of intimidated by him and they've only just met. It wasn't his place to ask about his personal matters yet.

"I heard what happened to you at the store, are you okay now?" Minho suddenly asked and it suspiciously looked like he was trying to change the subject.

Jisung bit his lips and sighed. He wasn't as terrified as he was before but he was still thinking about what happened with Kwon. The cut on his throat was still stinging and it wasn't something he could easily just forget.

"I'm coping with it, I guess," Jisung said. "Seungmin told me that he'll ask you to help me control this _Aura_ or whatever it is-"

"Oh yeah he mentioned that to me this morning and yes, you really need to work on it because that shit is strong as fuck," Minho said pointing at Jisung. "I'm actually amazed what happened stopped there without anything getting out of hand."

Jisung didn't know what make of what Minho just said so he cleared his throat and made proper eye contact with him for the first time.

"So, can you teach me?"

"Well, I don't see why not" He said with a small grin.

Okay, it was easier to come to an agreement with him than Jisung had been expecting. Maybe he might have been in a bad mood when he first saw him because this man wasn't the same person who gave Jisung the chills to the very core that day.

"If you want we can start now since we're both here and pretty sleepless, what do you say?" Minho asked.

"Yes of course," Jisung said. But he needed to know something before that. "Anyway, I don't know any of your sins except for Hyunjin's and Jeongin's, can we start with that?"

Minho gave him a surprised look. "No one told you yet?"

Jisung shook his head.

"Hmm let me see," Minho said leaning forwards. "You said you already know about Hyunjin and Jeongin right?"

"Yeah Hyunjin's _Lust_ , Jeongin is _Sloth_ and I am _Pride_ , that's all I know," Jisung said rolling his eyes. He still found all of this very stupid.

"Alright, so first of all I am _Wrath,_ so better not get in my bad side," Minho sarcastically added the last bit with a wink.

Jisung should have known. It was pretty obvious from day one; his cold exterior and how chills went down his spine when they made eye contact all made sense now.

"And what about the others?" Jisung asked earnestly and he couldn't believe he never bothered to know about them until this very moment.

"Channie hyung, I think you already met him; he's _Greed._ Then there's Felix, he's _Envy_ and Changbin is _Gluttony-_ "

"So all of them are great at controlling their traits I suppose?"

"Yes, otherwise I don't think they would have survived for all these years. Obviously, our families have the same blood as us but we are the most powerful from the whole lot. That's why we're here; at the Circle," Minho explained. "For example, my brother's _Aura_ isn't as powerful as mine even though he's from the direct _Ira_ bloodline. So he can lead a normal life in the outside world, unlike me."

Since Jisung didn't have any siblings, he couldn't relate to Minho but he felt like Minho would rather prefer to have the free life his brother had. But it wasn't like he really had a choice.

"What about my grandma?" Jisung asked.

"She wasn't from the _Superbia_ bloodline, she was just a normal human being but your grandfather used to live here. When they got married, she automatically joined us and learnt all our secrets. We didn't have an heir to _Pride_ ever since your father died in that accident," Minho said. "Did you know that all our parents used to live in this place twenty years ago?"

"What really? I had no idea. My grandma didn't really tell me any of this." Jisung said.

"All of them were very good friends but at a certain point, they went their separate ways after a while and this place was deserted until Chris renovated the building and made it a safe house again. He managed to unite all of us and bring us back together."

It was a bit hard for Jisung to process the fact that his parents had been living here in this goddamn mansion with their friends who also happened to be the parents of the others seven people who lived here now. His parents must have left the place before he was born because he certainly didn't remember any of it.

Jisung sat there for a few minutes in silence thinking about the new information he had received over and over again until Minho interrupted his train of thought.

"Is that all you want to know?" he asked. "Or do you want more time to think? I don't mind teaching you about your _Aura_ tomorrow. It can wait-"

"Wait, no. I'm ready, I want to do this now," Jisung mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "I just got distracted-"

"I can see that," Minho muttered. "Let's just not waste time and jump right into it skipping the bullshit shall we? I assume you're not in a mood to listen about psychology right now-"

"Okay whatever you want-"

Jisung just wanted to make himself less vulnerable to others because he apparently radiated superiority all around him and most people didn't know how to deal with that. He didn't want to be in the same position he was with Kwon ever again with anyone else.

"First of all, make yourself comfortable and try to focus on something without letting your mind run anywhere else. It’ll be easier if you think about something which you can keep your concentration on for a long time. You ready?"

"I think so," Jisung said doubtfully. He wasn’t ready. And he was never good at concentrating. His mind was like a wild stallion, running everywhere without any sense in the world. "What if I'm unable to do it?"

"No big deal, everyone struggles in the beginning. When you fail, you will start all over again until you can concentrate on something for ten minutes at a stretch."

"Okay."

In his first try, Jisung tried to concentrate on his breathing like they did in some yoga classes but it wasn't easy, just as he thought. Several thoughts were going back and forth in his mind making it harder for him to actually keep his mind on what he was actually supposed to be thinking.

"How long was it?" Jisung asked Minho who was timing his progress on his phone.

"Thirty seconds," he said with a smirk.

"What happens when I succeed and not get distracted for ten minutes?"

"Then the next step is being able to channel your energy towards a single point in your mind and storing it there until you want to unleash it. It just becomes a part of you when you sharpen your mind enough and you won't have to think about _channeling_ it anymore," Minho said.

For Jisung, it just sounded way harder than what Minho made it sound like. How long did he have to tire his mind to reach the same level as the others?

"So you're just automatically controlling it without even thinking about it?" Jisung asked to confirm.

"Yep, exactly. Your mind will react and get accustomed to it and in no time it will automatically start to keep the _Aura_ inside without spreading it out," Minho explained.

"Let's go again, we’ll aim for two minutes now."

Jisung nodded and started again. But this time he counted each and every breath he took to keep track on it without just doing it for the sake of doing it and it seemed to be actually working than his earlier attempt.

It was almost six o'clock in the morning and the sun was rising when Jisung finally managed to go fifteen minutes without distracting himself.

"Great work Jisung," Minho said yawning. "If you don't mind I'm gonna try sleep for at least three hours before the others wake up," he said and curled up on the couch he was sitting in.

Jisung just sat there for a while thinking about what his life has come to be in a span of three days. Without thinking about it, he too fell asleep on the chair.

But he couldn't sleep for long, he woke up shaking and shivering and it took him a while to realize that it was a scream which woke him up. Someone in the house was screaming-

And it was possibly the most heartbreaking sound he had ever heard in his entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So before anything imma just do a mini glossary here:  
>  \- Luxuria : Lust  
>  \- Ira : Wrath  
>  \- Superbia : Pride  
>  \- Acedia : Sloth  
>  \- Gula : Gluttony  
>  \- Avaritia : Greed  
>  \- Invidia : Envy 
> 
> Minsung finally met like properly and we be living the good life eyyy?? Let's hope so
> 
> And whatever happened in the beginning of the chapter would be explained more in the next update so stay tuned.
> 
> Leave a lot of kudos and comments I highly appreciate that!
> 
> Follow me on:  
> twitter - [@agustrachaa](https://twitter.com/agustrachaa?lang=en)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys, this chapter is just the littlest bit longer than the previous ones.
> 
> There are some descriptions which might trigger you so please be aware.
> 
> Enjoy~

Jisung was feeling extremely disoriented and confused. Something was very wrong. The blood curdling screaming abruptly stopped and a sudden silence took over the whole house.

Minho was also awake in the couch next to him and he looked just as confused as Jisung felt.

"Was that Jeongin I heard?" Minho asked. "What the fuck is happening?"

Jeongin? Why would he be screaming like that? Jisung had too many questions to ask. He just momentarily shrugged away his confusion. "Maybe we should go and check out?" He said.

"Yeah-"

They got up from their makeshift beds and headed towards the stairway. No one was in the corridors as far as Jisung could see. Everything seemed very ordinary until Felix suddenly came running out of one of the rooms holding his phone in one of his hands.

"Fuck guys, this is not good. Where's Jeongin? We should find him," he said in a panicked voice.

"Why? I just heard him screaming-" Minho began to say but Felix didn't let him finish his sentence. He grabbed Minho by the hand and started running down the corridor which Jisung assumed where Jeongin's room was.

They were almost at the end of the corridor when something very weird started happening. A sudden feeling of drowsiness hit him out of nowhere making his eyes almost close in exhaustion. And he noticed that the others were experiencing the same as well. Felix almost tripped down the hallway and Jisung saw Minho's eyelids flutter close for a mere second before he managed to wrench them open again.

"It's Jeongin, he's losing control," Minho shouted at them. "And I swear to fucking god Felix, keep your damn eyes open, you almost fell on your face."

Jeongin is _Sloth;_ Jisung suddenly remembered and realization dawned upon him; it was his _Aura_ which was draining their energy and making them feel exhausted. Whatever happening to Jeongin right now was making his _Aura_ go haywire and out of control.

They barged into the room all at once and Jisung realized at once that this was a far worse situation than he had ever imagined. Jeongin was on the floor, his hands gripping on to his phone and he was shaking uncontrollably from head to toe. A panic stricken Seungmin and Chan stood right by the doorway, their faces grave and serious and Hyunjin was kneeling beside Jeongin and it looked like he was trying to get his friend into a standing position.

"Is he okay?" Felix asked, his face shadowed with concern. Jeongin looked like he was trying not to cry and it was making Jisung's throat constrict blocking the oxygen flow down to his lungs.

"What's happening?" Minho questioned looking at the others.

"Later," Chan whispered back silently. "We'll tell you later."

"Jeongin, listen. You should really calm down-" Seungmin approached Jeongin with the lightest steps. "Jeongin?" he asked again as he didn’t respond.

There was a moment of silence until Jeongin looked up at Seungmin. His eyes were filled with sadness and grief and it looked like he had been crying. Then he started screaming.

"THAT IS MY FUCKING SISTER SEUNGMIN. YOU CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO FUCKING DO-" Jeongin shouted at Seungmin who recoiled away as a new wave of exhaustion and fatigue swept over all of them making their eyelids feel heavy and drowsy.

Chan was the first to recover from the eerie feeling of exhaustion and tiredness which was sweeping over them like a disease. He took a deep breath and spoke to them.

"Hyunjin, you stay with him, we'll be at the Board Room if you want us. I think Jeongin needs some privacy right now-" he said and exited the room gesturing the others to do the same.

Everyone else followed Chan out of the room; Felix who came last, closed the door behind him.

It was unfathomable to even imagine that it was the same Jeongin whom Jisung had gotten used to the past few days; the Jeongin who came to pick him up from his house. The kid who was on the floor a few seconds ago seemed to be an entirely different person and definitely not the cheerful and cheeky Jeongin he once knew.

"What's going on?" Minho asked again crossing his arms across his chest.

"Shit just went down, let's go the Board Room first, we need to fucking talk about it-"

After a series of hallways and corridors Jisung found himself standing in front of a majestic looking door he had never seen before. It was made out of some dark wood, polished to perfection and there was a bronze knocker which was shaped like a lion’s head attached to the door. Chan turned the heavy looking door handle and the door opened with a loud click.

The Board Room didn't look anything like Jisung had been initially expecting, it was a huge circular room with no windows to be seen. It reminded Jisung of a meeting room in a crime movie or something, but much more ornate and expensive looking. The walls were painted black and there was a round wooden table in the middle of the room. Jisung counted exactly eight chairs around it. The room was lit up by a crystal chandelier which was hung up right in the center.

"So is this why this place is called the Circle?" Jisung asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah," Seungmin replied. "This is probably the most sacred room in the whole house; many important decisions have been made in this very room during the past few centuries-"

"Everybody, take a seat," Chris said cutting out their conversation.

Jisung kept standing for a few seconds feeling unsure where he should sit until he decided to occupy the vacant seat in between Felix and Minho.

Just then, a disgruntled looking Changbin barged into the room. He sat down next to Felix and sighed. “I just saw the photos,” he said glancing at the phone in his hand.

“Can someone at least explain to us what’s happening now that we’re seated and everything?” Minho said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"This is what happened,” Felix said passing his phone to Jisung. “I don't know how Jeongin saw these but when I found out it was too late anyway."

Jisung looked at the phone. The screen showed a bunch photos which was taken in extremely bad lighting.

"It was sent to all of us in the morning. Sadly Jeongin saw it before any of us did so none of us couldn't stop him seeing them," Seungmin said. "When I rushed into his room, he was already losing control."

Jisung almost gagged when the content in the pictures finally focused. They depicted a grotesque body of what appeared to be a woman sprawled across a dull cement floor in some place he didn't recognize. The body seemed to be skinned from head to toe except for her face which was turned upright as if the photographer wanted everyone to recognize who it was.

The blood tinted fleshy body contrasted with the dull gray of the floor making every single little detail of the butchering more prominent. Jisung couldn't look at it anymore; he passed the phone to Minho who had been waiting impatiently to know what's going on since the very beginning.

"Fuck," was the first thing which came out of Minho's mouth. "Are you telling me that Jeongin fucking saw these?"

"That's his sister, am I right?" Jisung asked gravely.

"Yeah, that's Somin. Jeongin's older sister, the only family he had." Chris said. “They’d been orphaned a few years back when their parents were stabbed to death in a homicide,” he clarified as Jisung made a questioning face.

“Oh-”

"My question is who in their right minds would do that and what was their reason behind it?" Changbin asked.

"Guys, she'd been flayed like a fucking animal; I definitely don't think anyone in their right minds would have done that. A sane person would have just shot her in the head or something and definitely wouldn't have sent the pictures of the body to her own family," Minho said.

Jisung had to agree with what Minho said. Only psychopaths and serial killers would do such a crime in cold blood and not have any remorse towards it afterwards.

"You know what? I just got an idea-" Chan said. "Let’s go meet my dad today; I’ll tell him we're arriving at the Red Queen this evening."

"To track down the number?" Felix asked, his eyes glowing in excitement.

"Exactly!"

Jisung looked around the table hoping someone would explain to him what the Red Queen is and since no one did, he decided to ask the question himself.

"I'm sorry but what's the Red Queen?"

"My dad's casino. He has a lot of secret agents and outlaws working for him. Tracking down the number wouldn't be a problem to them," Chan explained.

So Chan's dad was an owner of a casino? Jisung didn't even want to imagine how wealthy his family was; all of them must be drowning in gold and money for all he knew.

"What about Jeongin? Is he coming with us?" Changbin asked in a worried tone.

"I don't think he'll be able to, Hyunjin will stay to keep him company while we're gone," Minho said. "We should give him some space until he gets himself together, he'd seen more than enough already-"

Everyone around the table nodded in agreement.

_ Meanwhile, somewhere else _

"We just got an alert saying that they'll be at the Red Queen in a few hours, sir," Lee said.

His boss turned around in his rotating chair to face him.

"Hmm our Channie is going to see his daddy with his friends? Why?"

"We don't know yet. If you give me permission, I can go there with some of my men and explore. I think it's time to go visit my favorite Mr. Bang again."

"Yes, do that," he said. "Get me every single piece of information which you might think will be valuable for us."

"Of course sir, I'll be leaving soon then."

_ Jisung, about seven hours later _

Jisung was dressed in a shirt which was given to him by Felix since they wore the similar size and he had nothing appropriate to wear for a casino. All he had in his bag were some baggy t-shirts, some sweatpants and jeans and none of them were suitable.

There were six people, Chan had burrowed Hyunjin’s white Mercedes for the trip because it was the only vehicle which had 4 seats and they could get away with using just two cars rather than three. All of the other cars were two-seaters. Chan was driving it with Seungmin in the passenger seat and Felix and Changbin in the back.

Jisung was in the passenger seat of Minho's car which was a Ferrari, a 488 GTB; one of the most recent models. The car was a dark matte black and for the hundredth time Jisung wondered how filthily rich they were to be able to afford all these.

They were heading towards Chan's dad's casino, the Red Queen.

"Just so you know, we don't have this much drama every day," Minho said as a matter of fact. "It seems like we decided to get you here during a very bad time."

"Its fine,” Jisung shrugged it off. “But actually I'm really worried about Jeongin.”

He hadn't seen Jeongin since that morning. According to what Hyunjin said, he was still grieving and wasn't in any condition to come out of his room, let alone speak to anyone.

"I'm worried too... but I know that he loves vengeance, he'll be out of that room and would be going after his sister's killer without a second thought, and that's when we should really be worrying about," Minho said.

"I won't blame him. If it was me, I'd be looking for revenge as well."

"I don't disagree-"

They didn't talk much for the rest of the drive as both of them were engulfed in their own thoughts. Jisung found it oddly satisfying how Minho's hands moved on the steering wheel; once in a while tapping on it to the beat of the song playing on the radio and making Jisung stare at them furthermore. No doubt, his hands managed to mesmerize him.

Jisung didn't realize he had been zoning out until the car stopped at the casino parking lot.

It was one of those fancy and extravagant casinos Jisung had always wanted to go but somehow never got the chance to. The entrance was decorated in red flashy lights and Chinese lanterns were hung all over to give the place a more authentic feeling. The whole place reminded Jisung of the town of Shanghai.

The guard at the revolving doors immediately recognized Chan and he came forwards to escort them inside. The interior looked even more luxurious than the outside did. Every single surface seemed to be shining from the lights overhead and even though it wasn't that late in the night, the casino was already crowded with people.

"Mr. Bang asked you to stay here and enjoy until he finishes his meeting at 6pm," the guard told Chan as he showed them to the main area.

"Thank you so much, we will stay," Chan said and the man retreated with a slight bow.

"We have an hour to wait. What should we do?" Seungmin asked looking at his phone to check the time.

"Mr. Bang asked us to enjoy-" Felix said grinning. "So I might just go and gamble all my money away."

Chan rolled his eyes. "Fine, everyone just come to the lobby at 6pm no one's gonna come and look for you, alright?"

"Sure," Felix said and disappeared off to the crowd with Changbin.

Chan and Seungmin also went and joined an ongoing poker game leaving Minho and Jisung alone with each other.

Minho shrugged and looked at Jisung who was fidgeting with his shirt sleeve. "I'm not in the mood for any gambling, should we go get something to drink?"

"Uh, sure. Yeah," Jisung agreed.

Why was he being so awkward? It was very unlike him. Jisung shrugged the feeling away and followed Minho towards the bar where they sat on the stools in front of the counter.

“What are you guys gonna get today?” asked the bar lady approaching the two of them.

“A Dry Martini for me,” Minho said. “What about you?” he asked turning towards Jisung.

“Umm, just beer,” he replied deciding to go the safer way.

The bar lady came back with the drinks and placed them in front of the counter with a semi flirtatious smile on her face and Jisung found this very amusing.

“Enjoy your evening,” she said and retreated back to the bar to tend to another customer.

"Anyway, no one seems to be reacting weird to my _Aura_ today," Jisung said taking a sip from his beer. He didn't want to be in the same situation as yesterday again. It had already managed to lose his trust in many people.

"Well it’s still there, but no worries though, you seem a bit distracted today so your _Aura_ is a bit more dampened than usual," Minho said as if he had sensed Jisung getting rather uncomfortable.

He had actually been extremely distracted the whole day because of everything which had been happening since that morning. The images of the butchered body kept flashing across his mind numerous times and it was enough to keep his thoughts away from anything else. He had no idea how Jeongin was dealing with the photos knowing it was his sister sprawled like that on the floor like some barn animal.

“Have you ever met her before? How was she like?” Jisung asked.

“Yeah, she used to come by The Circle like once or twice a month to check on Jeongin. She gets very over-protective when it comes to him because she had literally looked after the kid after their parents’ demise,” Minho replied. “I cannot even imagine how hard it must be for him.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to make some progress with that number with Chan’s dad today then.”

“Yeah-”

**_~x~_ **

Chan took them to the fifth floor of the building which kind of resembled a corridor of a hotel. Jisung assumed they were heading towards his dad's office and he was almost partially right.

The room they entered was huge and it was divided into two areas. Half of the room was a work-place and the other half was a mini living room. There was a couch in the living room area and two men were already sitting on it. They were in the middle of what seemed to be a friendly conversation.

The older of the two men who was most probably Chan's dad signaled them to wait by the door until he was finished with the exchange.

"That's a hybrid," Felix pointed at the other younger man and whispered so that only Jisung could hear.

Jisung looked at the man sitting with Chan’s dad more closely and he noticed that he was definitely an Elf. He was tall and handsome, had long sleek black hair which was tucked behind one of his elfish ears... but something was off. His skin didn't glow like it did with the other Elves Jisung had seen; it looked just like normal human skin.

"You mean half elf and... half human?" Jisung asked uncertainly because it sounded insane in his head.

Felix nodded his head.

"Usually most of them are related to us because they tend to stay away from normal humans relationships,” he further explained. "And he's probably one of Chan's distant cousins-"

"Oh," Jisung said and fell silent as the younger man stood up to leave.

Chan's dad shook hands with him and walked him to the door. "Go home safe Jiyong, I'll surely enjoy those cookies you gave me-" the older man said.

"What's he doing here?" Chan asked as soon as the door was closed. "I thought the Lee's weren't talking to us anymore-"

"Jiyong just came here to see me; I don't think they're still trying to make us their enemies."

"I still don't trust them," Chan said pouting but his dad wasn't listening to him anymore.

"We're really sorry to come all the way here in such short notice and bother you but we had no other choice Mr. Bang-" Seungmin said apologetically but Bang cut him off.

"It's not a huge deal child, you're always welcome here. But the real question is why so suddenly?" He said with one of his eyebrows raised. "And hello, you must be Han Jisung. You've grown a lot since I last saw you."

Jisung wasn't expecting to be directly addressed by him so he stood there for a while trying to form a coherent sentence. And did that mean Chan's family had come to visit them often before his parents had died?

"Yes, I'm Jisung, nice to meet you," he replied smiling.

"Come, come and sit down," Bang said gesturing towards the couch.

"Dad, did you hear about Somin yet?" Chan asked.

Bang's lips tightened and his gaze faltered for a second before he answered.

"Yes, I just got the news. The poor child had been skinned alive and they've just found the body at a deserted park somewhere out of the city," Bang said. "How is Jeongin doing?"

"Bad," Minho answered.

"I'm not surprised, his uncle just called me and he sounded distraught." Bang said shaking his head. "Who would have done that to her? And why?"

"That's why we're here dad. Felix, please show him the photos," Chan said.

Bang looked perplexed but either way took the phone from Felix and stared at the photos for a good whole sixty seconds before he looked up.

"Who sent these?"

"We were hoping you'd help us find that information," Minho said.

"Of course I can put my men into finding this number and further details about the owner. We probably have the biggest database in the whole area and we have a lot of important connections so it wouldn't be that much of a problem but what's their purpose of sending them to you?" He asked from Felix.

"He actually sent it to all of us, even Jeongin. He saw them as well," Changbin said.

The blood on Bang's face drained upon hearing this. "What?" He said unbelievably. "Even the police hadn't let anyone see the body- let alone her own family, and now I see why they didn't allow it and they have a very good reason for it. So why would this unknown number send them to you?"

All of them were silent as none of them had any answers.

"What do you reckon actually happened to Somin?" Bang asked.

"I feel like it's a warning of some kind," Changbin said.

"He’s right," Seungmin said. "And I think the killer wanted inside information about us from Somin and when she resisted they had no other choice but to kill her- and to show that they're capable of committing the most gruesome of murders-."

Whoever the murderer was, their intentions had been to target Jeongin and the rest of them. It was pretty obvious by their actions. They probably wanted to show that they have got the power and ways to get to them. And Jeongin's sister, Somin had only been an innocent bystander. But it was too cruel for even the most malicious person on earth to do something like that to a human being and send evidence of the crime to their own sibling. It was just inhumane.

"I'll get someone to look into this right now," Bang said taking out his phone. "Help yourselves while I take this call," he passed Chan a bag of cookies which was in a gift bag on the side of the couch.

"I was getting so damn hungry, thanks dad," Chan said as he ripped the polythene cover.

Suddenly, Changbin who was leaning back comfortably in the couch stood up straight and grabbed the bag of cookies from Chan.

"What the-?"

"This was in the gift bag am I right?" Changbin asked and there was some kind of urgency in his voice.

"What's happening?" Felix asked looking at Changbin in surprise.

"I fucking smell Cyanide in there, I don't fucking know how it’s got in there but all I know is, you shouldn't be eating it," Changbin said, his eyes livid with horror.

"My dad was gonna eat that if I hadn't, we all were" Chan said after a very long pause.

"Wait, how can you even smell it from that far?" Jisung asked. Something wasn’t adding up.

"He's _Gluttony_ remember?" Minho said.

"Yeah and I know when there's something wrong with food. And that shit shouldn't be even kept inside a fucking house," Changbin said. He was still holding the bag of cookies as if it was a murder weapon. "Here, even you might get the stench of poison if you give it a sniff from a close range."

Jisung took the bag which was handed to him and sniffed it lightly. Changbin was right; there was a very faint stench of a mixture of chemicals and toxins which was overpowered by all the sugar and the vanilla essence.

There were several things going on Jisung's mind but one thing was certain, it didn’t look like an accident anymore. It was a well-planned murder.

"What's wrong?" Bang asked coming back to them; his phone conversation seemed to be over.

"Dad, was it Lee- I mean was it Jiyong who gave you these cookies?"

"Yes, why?"

"I fucking knew they weren't to be trusted," Chan cussed and ran out of the door with utmost hatred in his eyes without even explaining to them where he was going. Minho too followed after Chan at once without even a second thought.

"What's happening?" Bang asked and he sounded legitimately confused now.

"Someone just tried to kill you and I think Chan just ran out hoping to get hold of Lee, or whoever that was before he gets away," Seungmin explained rather calmly which heavily contrasted with the situation at hand.

"Kill me? This place is heavily guarded I doubt any killer can come inside. Is Chan on his right mind?"

"No Mr. Bang, these cookies are contaminated," Changbin said. "It strongly smells of Cyanide. I'm sorry but if I hadn't stopped Chan from eating that, he would be hospitalized by now- or maybe even worse."

Bang's friendly and warm eyes suddenly turned dark and his whole face transformed into a look of fury. He held up the gift bag and dumped all its contents on the floor making a huge mess.

"Are all of these contaminated?" He asked from Changbin; his voice suddenly full of power and authority.

Changbin nodded his head in silence.

Bang took out his phone again and dialed a number. It only rang once before the other side picked it up.

"Did the man who came in to visit me about fifteen minutes ago leave the premises yet?" He asked. "Get me surveillance right now- yes, to my personal computer and don't let my son and his friend leave the premises either. Direct them back to my office!"

"Is he gone?" Jisung asked after the call ended.

"The guards don’t seem to know. It’s okay, we got surveillance-"

He switched on his computer and the views from the inside and the outside of Bang's office visualized on the screen along with the view of the entrance of the casino. Bang played the clips backwards until the moment where it showed Lee leaving the office and started playing it from there.

What Jisung saw next sent a chill down his spine making his breath hitch in his throat. It showed Bang escorting Lee out of the room and closing the door but after that, Lee never left. He just stood there, just beyond the closed door when he was supposed to be walking away.

"Holy fuck, is he listening to what's happening inside?" Felix asked dumbfounded as Lee on the screen crouched down to keep his ear on the wall.

"Yeah-"

After some minutes, the inside view of the room showed Changbin grabbing the bag of cookies from Chan and in the other frame that's when Lee stood up from his crouched position and started to walk away as he heard the chaos from the inside.

"If Chan was just a little bit earlier, we could have caught him right at the door," Seungmin said.

The video ended and the four of them looked at each other, fear and terror clearly depicted in everyone’s faces.

"I think all of you should go back to the circle. Right now. I'd have to tighten the security around myself as well-" Bang said. "Just get Chan and Minho and get out of here, this place isn't safe for you guys anymore-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have noticed how Chan's family owning a casino completely relates to their family sin, greed. Well, if you haven't now you know.
> 
> If you were wondering, yes I got the whole idea of flaying from the Bolton's in Game of Thrones
> 
> I can just promise you that this will only get messier, and this murder was only the start of it.
> 
> Also, Minsung is kinda warming up towards each other lets see how these two will turn out *smirk*
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments I appreciate them a lot :D
> 
> Follow me on:  
> twitter - [@agustrachaa](https://twitter.com/agustrachaa?lang=en)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I hope yall are ready for some drama lmao,,,
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

**Seungmin**

It was cozy inside the library. The flames in the fireplace were dying out and the left out embers were glistening bright red in contrast with the dark ash and coal.

The clock on the wall showed that it was some odd hours past midnight but Seungmin wasn't in any mood to sleep. A huge volume called _'Werewolves and Bloodlines'_ lay open on his lap and he was way too immersed in the book that he didn't even notice Chris until he came and sat right next to him.

"Found something interesting huh?"

Seungmin looked at Chris and nodded. "The events at the casino yesterday made me realize that we don't have any sanctuary outside the Circle anymore, I think we should rather be prepared for anything and everything… we have no idea what’s coming for us. It’s better than just waiting around you know-"

"So you think-" Chan paused and glanced down at the title of the book he was holding. "-you think werewolves might be involved in this? They've been extinct for years Seungmin."

"Well, I'm not exactly implying _that_ but look here-" Seungmin flipped through the book to find the page he wanted and kept it on Chan's lap. "This says something entirely different."

_Werewolves, more commonly known as 'wolves' were one of the deadliest creatures who roamed the earth in the early ages before their rumored extinction during the 17th century._

_The creatures were described to have a humanoid body and humanoid facial features. At first glance, you would think they’re the average human being if you didn’t know better about the creature’s identifiable special traits._

_You are able to tell the creatures apart by their sharp canines and their yellow tinted eyes. They also have the ability to take the form of a fully-fledged wolf whenever they please. (Full moon transformations are just purely myths)_

_Werewolves also have a tendency to serve a human being with utmost loyalty. If you manage to gain the trust of the creature, they will serve you unconditionally and carry out your tasks and commands._

_Even though it is said that the werewolves are extinct, there is no solid proof to confirm this fact. And there have been sightings of the creatures in different parts of the world in the past few centuries and there are some individuals who still believe in their existence._

"Rumors? Do you really believe in them Seungmin?" Chan asked.

"Not entirely but I do think there _might_ be a slight chance of them being alive, you know the crazy shit that had been happening lately? I feel like werewolves could be a great explanation for everything. It can be really dangerous for us if Lee and his people already have their alliance," Seungmin explained.

It had been something he'd been thinking for a while ever since they returned from the casino. Whoever these people were, they’re surely not acting alone. If hybrids were already involved, other more sinister parties are definitely involved as well. And to Seungmin, no other species sounded as threatening as the wolves did at the moment.

"This is something you would never hear me say but for this one, I hope you're very wrong," Chan said.

Seungmin weakly smiled at him. "Let's see what happens. And yes hopefully, I could be wrong."

"Come on now, you should sleep it's almost 2:00 am." Chris said.

Seungmin kept the book on the table and followed Chan out of the library.

**Jisung**

It was the crack of dawn, and Jisung was awake because of a dream he just had. He groggily looked at the clock he kept on his bedside table and it was about thirty minutes past 5 am.

It was the first time he’d dreamt of Minho.

The dream had started off pretty normal, as normal as things could get in this place anyway. It was one of Minho’s teaching sessions and nothing seemed out of place at first. They were just sitting on two chairs facing each other, nothing crazy about that. But then Jisung started noticing the weird shit.

The room had no windows, or any doors for that matter. Minho seemed paler than usual and he had this glint in his eyes which screamed ‘RUN’ to Jisung. And on top of that, he was smirking. Jisung didn’t like this feeling at all.

“Your _Aura_ , it’s not very nice Jisung,” Minho said in a drawling voice which made Jisung’s hair stand on its end. “Not nice, hmm,” he drawled again and his words were echoing a hundred times off of the windowless walls.

“I’m sorry, I’ll do better,” Jisung tried to say but no words came out of him. Only a weak gurgle escaped from his mouth.

Minho was leaning forwards in his chair toward Jisung, his crazy looking eyes glued to Jisung all the time. “What are you saying?” Minho tauntingly asked coming even closer that Jisung could even feel his breath on his face.

If this was real life, Jisung was pretty damn sure it would have made him uncomfortable as hell. But in the dream, he wasn’t uncomfortable at all. He was liking it, liking it way too much to be very honest.

They were mere millimetres apart. If Minho moved any closer, he could literally kiss him. And there was a voice inside Jisung’s head screaming him to move forwards, to close the distance and kiss him. But why would he? It made no sense.

Then he started noticing that the walls in the room were closing in on them as well. The room was already half the size it was two seconds ago. And on the other hand, Minho was almost against Jisung’s lips.

“What do you say, Jisung?” Minho said brushing against his lips. “Want to escape or not?”

Jisung woke up just as the room crushed in on them.

It was probably the weirdest and the most confusing dream he had seen in a while. It clearly made no fucking sense to him. He was just starting to warm up to Minho after the extremely bad first impression he had on him but he found himself being terrified to see or talk to him… again.

He couldn't go back to sleep, and for some odd reason, he was sweating like he just ran ten miles. He decided to go take a shower to calm his mind. He let the warm water engulf him and it managed to distract him for a while. When he finally got dressed up it was six o'clock and the sun was already rising.

Jisung was getting hungry so he went downstairs to get some food praying to any god who’d be listening that he wouldn't meet Minho on the way. He was so sure he would do something weird like run away from him or do something equally stupid of the sort and he wasn't entirely ready for the upcoming humiliation yet.

Thankfully, he didn't meet Minho but he ran into Jeongin who was sitting on the kitchen counter doing particularly nothing at all. He was just staring at the opposite wall. He wasn't even blinking or anything, just blankly staring.

Within a span of twenty four hours, Jeongin had completely transformed into a different person. His cheeks had hollowed in and his hair was disheveled. And his eyes looked bloodshot and there were dark circles around them.

"Hey," Jisung said uncertainly approaching him. He was scared he might suddenly lose control again like the other day.

Surprisingly, he smiled.

"What are you doing awake at this hour?" Jeongin asked. The cheeriness in his voice was gone and it was completely replaced by a monotonous drowsy drawl.

"I was just hungry," Jisung said taking out a cereal box from a shelf. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked changing the subject.

Jeongin shook his head. "No. Even you look like you haven't been getting any sleep lately-"

Well it was true. He had only gotten about six hours of sleep in total for the last four days, ever since the day his grandmother got hospitalized. He’s not surprised at all of the fact that he looked so tired and worn out.

"It's just that a lot had been happening lately," Jisung said.

"Yeah-"

They fell silent and Jisung didn't feel so hungry anymore. He was just munching on the cereal just for the sake of doing it.

"You know, my sister used to say that forgiveness is the greatest gift you can offer and I actually used to believe that until yesterday. Isn't it so ironic I stopped believing that just for her?" Jeongin suddenly asked.

There was a long pause as Jisung thought what to tell him before he answered.

"I think you should do what your heart tells you, I don't think it's my place to intervene with your decisions and your thoughts," he said softly. "I hope you do make the correct decisions Jeongin."

"I've already decided hyung. I've already decided not to give up until I find the person who did that to my sister. I’d only be satisfied if I see them in a worse fate than her, that’s the only way-"

**-x-**

"Jisung you're distracted, what's wrong?" Minho snapped making Jisung come back to the real world.

It was his fifth failed attempt and Jisung wasn't at all surprised at Minho losing his cool with him. How could he not be distracted after all? He'd seen some weirdly dangerous slash explicit dream about him and the man sitting right in front of him a few hours ago.

Thankfully, Jisung hadn't done anything weird as he had been expecting, well- if you don’t consider the fretting and frequent nail biting. His brain was betraying him.

He was supposed to be channeling his thoughts to a specific point in his brain (at least that's what he understood from Minho's over complicated lecture on psychology and mind control) but it seemed like whenever he got close to achieving it, his mind runs back to the morning and the dream he had. It was ridiculous.

"Your Aura completely disappears for like a complete second but it comes back again stronger than it was," Minho said. "You look awkward as fuck. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I think so? Except maybe a little sleep deprived but I'm fine," Jisung lied. He wasn't fine.

His thoughts were a mess. His feelings were a mess. His whole fucking life was a goddamn mess and he had no idea know how to make it right. And he felt like Minho somehow knew he wasn't being entirely truthful.

The fact that Minho just came out after a shower smelling like his shampoo, a mixture of coffee and vanilla didn't help anything either. All Jisung knew was that none of this was right, everything was wrong and completely fucked up.

"You know what? Take a break."

"Huh?" Jisung asked dumbly.

"A ten minute break," Minho said again. "It'll help."

After ten minutes Jisung tried again. It was definitely better than the last time but it wasn't that great either.

"A few more tries and you'll be fine" Minho said encouragingly. "Let's resume tomorrow. Nothing works out in just a day you know-"

_3 days later..._

**The Red Queen**

"What do you mean it's destroyed?" Bang asked in his usual authoritative tone.

Yoon took out a plastic zip lock bag from his backpack and kept it on Bang's table in front of him.

Bang took out the phone inside it with careful and deft hands to examine it more closely.

The phone seemed to be riddled with bullet holes and some of the internal hardware was falling out of the holes. Even Bang, who wasn't an expert in technology knew that there was no use from the phone anymore.

"Lee must have heard we're tracking down the number, smart of him to destroy it entirely," Bang said. "But we have the names the sim card is registered to, am I right?"

"Yes," Yoon nodded. "The sim is registered under the name Kyung and it’s bought from a shop called Dialcom at the Plaza. This is all the information we have about this phone."

"Well well... Who’s this Kyung I wonder..." Bang said standing up from his chair. "A rare name as a matter of fact, it shouldn't be that hard to find out the previous owner of this wreckage of a phone I presume."

"Yes you're right sir, I will put my men into this job," Yoon said bowing his head.

"Very well Yoon, I know you won't disappoint me," Bang said.

Yoon bowed his head once again and left the office. Bang took out his phone and dialed Chris's number. He picked up the call in 3 rings.

"Hello son, I've got news for you-"

**Minho**

The next few days nothing eventful happened, Minho was feeling a lot better than he usually did and it was nice to wake up at least once in a while without a nightmare scaring him awake.

His dreams had gotten a lot worse during the past few months. No matter how hard he tried to distract himself, nothing had actually worked. But it looked like the training sessions with Jisung had done some change to his system because this was the second consecutive day he woke up bright and considerably happy without a single nightmare disturbing his much needed sleep.

Jisung too was back to his usual self again and he wasn't distracted at all during training. And in less than three days, Jisung had managed to take complete control over his Aura and Minho felt quite proud as a teacher.

Jisung leaned back on his chair and sighed contently.

"Someone seems overjoyed," Minho teasingly said seeing that Jisung was in an extremely good mood.

"Shouldn't I be?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "I feel kinda powerful and I feel like I could do anything, damn I just feel downright powerful."

Minho smiled at his words. Ever since they started with their training, Minho noticed that he'd been smiling a lot too. Jisung was a cheerful person; it was very easy to work with him. And he really did enjoy their little training sessions and Minho was a person who was extremely hard to please.

"Well, I've taught you the basics. It's your job to further sharpen your mind now, I just need a good rest now" Minho said.

"I know," Jisung said nodding. "Anyway, I never got the chance to thank you properly. I'd forever owe you for saving my life. Literally."

"Ah don't mention it," Minho simply dismissed Jisung's thank you but he was smiling from ear to ear all the same.

At the very moment, a disgruntled looking Chan appeared from the doorway. He was talking to someone on his phone.

"It's my dad," Chan pointed at the phone and mouthed the words to Minho and returned back to the call.

"Do you think he might have found out the number?" Jisung whispered.

Minho shrugged. "We'll have to wait to know I guess."

After five minutes, Chan ended the call and plopped on to the chair next to Minho.

"My dad has found out the owner of the phone, someone called Kyung and it was purchased from a shop called Dialcom at the Plaza. My dad said he's already given orders to his men to track down this Kyung and he wants us to snoop around the mall to find out more about the purchase," Chan explained.

"We can do that," Minho said. "But when?"

"Today itself, I'd say. Better get this over with than wait-"

"Fine," Minho said.

"By the way Jisung, this will be your credit card. I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner," Chan said handing a black card to Jisung.

"It's mine?" Jisung timidly asked eyeing the card with great caution, as if it will explode in his hand.

Minho chuckled at his reaction and so did Chan.

"Of course, you can use it for absolutely anything you want," Minho said.

"Anyway, you guys better start getting ready. I'll tell the others too," Chan said and left.

**-x-**

Minho was in his treasured black Ferrari and Jisung was in the passenger seat yet again. For some odd reason, the younger appeared to be nervous and fidgety.

"What's up?" Minho asked.

"Huh?" Jisung snapped out of his reverie. "No it's just that every time I went out, something bad always happened. I'm a tad bit worried."

"We'll be fine Jisung, stop thinking too much. And today, all of us are going, I doubt anything will happen anyway."

This was the first time Jeongin was going out after his sister’s death. As far as Minho could see, he somehow seemed to have gotten a tight grip on himself and he was carrying himself just fine. It was actually nice to see the kid out and about after all these days of keeping himself confined inside his room.

"Anyway, I've been thinking," Minho said in an attempt to change the conversation. Negativity was something he couldn't just tolerate. "Do you drive?"

"Drive? Yeah. I had a Toyota back at home but I never got the chance to bring it here," Jisung said.

"How about you use that brand new black card of yours to buy a new one? Something which is in a better league than a Toyota?" Minho said smirking.

"I can actually do that?" Jisung asked.

His eyes were as big as orbs and he looked like a little kid. Minho found this very adorable.

"I don't see why not," Minho said coolly. "So what models do you like?"

Jisung thought for a while before he answered. "Well, I've been thinking about getting a Porsche if I ever get some money. Maybe a white one-"

"Nice-" Minho said.

The rest of the drive, they had a long conversation about cars until they reached their destination.

Minho parked the car next to Hyunjin’s Mercedes and joined the others.

"I think Seungmin and I should go talk to the manager and the rest of you can walk around the mall, or else it would seem too suspicious and might attract unnecessary attention," Chan said as they got into an elevator.

"You're right," Minho agreed.

The elevator stopped at the third floor and the doors opened with a ding.

"Meet you guys at the food court in thirty minutes?" Seungmin said.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Good luck getting that information!" Felix called after them just before they separated.

"You know what? I need new shoes," Minho said as he spotted the Nike store directly in front of him.

He was running low on new sneakers and this was the perfect chance to get a pair. It's not like he had the time to shop around like Hyunjin did, he was a busy man.

Hyunjin, Jeongin and Jisung followed him into the store while Felix dragged Changbin away mumbling a weak excuse for their absence. For all Minho knew, they were probably going to find a place to make out until someone decides to chase them away for excessive Public Display of Affection.

It took Minho a good whole twenty five minutes to choose a nice pair, which was a black Air Force with red laces. He paid for it and went to find the rest of them who were in the other end of the store fawning over a jacket.

"I think we're supposed to leave now," Minho said looking at his watch.

"Who are you to complain, you've been staring at a shoe for so damn long," Hyunjin whined back but placed the jacket where it belonged on the rack and came with Minho never the same.

Jisung too made a face at Minho which almost said. 'I agree with Hyunjin' but Minho chose to ignore that with just a smirk.

On their way to the food court to join Chan and Seungmin, Jeongin got distracted by a candy floss store and it took Minho some time to drag the kid away from there.

By the time they reached the food court, Seungmin and Chan were already seated, sharing a plate of spaghetti.

"How early of you," Chan said sarcastically looking at his watch. "We're almost finishing our food, right Seungmin?" He tauntingly said looking at the other.

"Oh, shut it," Minho groaned and slid into one of the vacant chairs in front of them.

Jeongin muttered a quick excuse about going to the washroom and fled the scene before the candy floss incident came out of Minho's mouth and Hyunjin too ran behind him.

"We actually found some important information regarding this Kyung while you were-" Seungmin comically eyed the shopping bag on the table. "While you were expanding your great shoe collection."

Seungmin always knew how to get in Minho's nerves. He was so annoying but it was hard for Minho to ever get mad at him. Seungmin knew this and he took the maximum advantage of it.

"So tell me, what did you find?" Minho asked grasping the chance to change the subject.

"Let's wait till everyone's here, where's Changbin?" Seungmin asked.

"Probably eating Felix's ass, I wouldn't know," Minho said monotonously.

"So umm Jisung's with them?"

"No dumbass, he just went to the washroom with Jeongin and Hyunjin."

Chan and Seungmin looked at each other and then looked forwards to face Minho.

"What's wrong?"

"He wasn't with them when they left, neither he was with any of you when you guys arrived," Seungmin said slowly.

"I'm pretty sure he was with us the whole time, Seungmin," Minho said raising an eyebrow.

At the very moment Jeongin and Hyunjin came into the scene and there was no Jisung with them either as Minho had been hoping.

"Is the lecturing over? I'm so hungry," Hyunjin said sitting next to Minho and grabbing the fork from Seungmin.

"Guys, didn't Jisung come with you?" Minho asked and he was getting paranoid by the second.

"Why? No. Isn't he here with- oh?" Jeongin looked around the table again.

"Fucking hell," Minho cursed and got up from the chair. He traced their way back out of the food court and the others followed behind him in his wake.

How could they have lost him like this? How can he be so ridiculously irresponsible? It was very unlikely of Jisung to just wander off to somewhere without telling them.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Seungmin asked.

"He was there when we exited the Nike store but after that I don't exactly remember," Minho said trying to pry his mind for any recollection of Jisung after that.

"How about you two?"

Hyunjin shook his head in utter disbelief. "All this time, I thought he was with us. Oh god I'm so sorry."

Minho could say that Hyunjin was panicking. He couldn't blame him; Minho's paranoia was getting out of control as well. Felix and Changbin wasn't anywhere to be seen either. He ran all the way back to the center of the mall where a huge void towered from the ceiling of the fifth floor to the ground floor. The edges were lined with glass railings and the escalators ran in between them.

Minho leaned over one of the railings and looked around since it was the best place to take a glimpse at the whole area since you could take a good look at all the floors down below.

The blood running through his veins turned cold and all his fears suddenly became very real as he saw a certain profile he recognized from the casino that day, he was all the way down in the first floor.

A man who he had only met once, someone who he had never even spoken to but anyhow hated and despised him from the first ever day.

It was Lee. And from the bottom of his heart Minho knew that there was a slight chance that they already might be too late to do anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i hope yall enjoyed this chapter!!
> 
> A rather tame but a quite dramatic chapter I suppose lol, considering how crazy the other chapters were.
> 
> What did you guys make of the werewolves and Jisung's dream? And where Jisung might have disappeared off to? ;)
> 
> Leave lots of kudos and comments I really appreciate :)
> 
> Follow me on:  
> twitter - [@agustrachaa](https://twitter.com/agustrachaa?lang=en)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! A new chapter is here yall.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this :)
> 
> T/W - This Chapter contains gore and some violent scenes. Please read at your own risk.

**Minho**

All Minho remembered was seeing a glimpse of Lee down in the first floor walking in the direction of the exit which led to the parking lot. All of his thoughts were in utter turmoil and nothing else registered in his brain except for the fact that Lee was almost escaping.

Minho had already begun running down the escalators when he saw Felix and Changbin in the lower floor landing.

"Felix!" Minho shouted and pointed at the direction where Lee was going.

Thankfully, Lee hadn’t noticed that Minho was behind his trail yet. He was trying to blend in with the crowd, but he was still pretty much noticeable because of his brilliant white suit.

Felix didn't fail to see what Minho was pointing at and he too joined him in pursuit. Changbin was left behind but Minho hoped he would find the others and tell them what happened. Their main goal at the moment was to not lose sight of Lee. They sprinted across the mall elbowing people out of their way; they couldn't really afford to waste any time. Lee was almost getting away.

"What happened?" Felix asked in between breaths as he ran.

"They got Jisung."

"No shit!"

Lee turned a corner and disappeared from their view. They stopped running as soon as they reached the parking lot and went around the cars in quiet steps trying to find the man.

"There he is," Felix whispered and crouched down to hide behind a car.

Minho too crouched down next to him and looked towards where Felix was pointing at. Lee was getting into the passenger seat of a black van. All of its shutters were tinted dark black and they couldn't see a thing. But Minho was certain that Jisung was inside the vehicle, he just knew it.

They reached Minho's Ferrari which was thankfully parked only a few feet away and got into it. They waited for a few seconds before Minho started the engine, he wanted to make sure there was a safe distance between them and the van. No matter what happened, they couldn’t afford to let Lee and his people see the Ferrari behind them. They'll know at once they're being followed.

It wasn't that hard to keep track of the black van once they got into the main road as it was the only vehicle which had its shutters tinted in such a dark color. Minho drove behind the vehicle always keeping a safe hundred meter distance between them and he didn't dare take his eyes away from the van in case he loses sight of it.

"Felix, activate the tracker so the others know where to find us. Send them a text message also, tell them we're following Lee," Minho said.

"Alright-"

**Jisung**

Jisung was absent-mindedly walking towards the food court when he suddenly felt a searing pain across his neck. He clapped his hand over his neck and groaned. Something cold was stuck on his skin, it was metal. It was too late when he realized what was happening to him. He was in an extremely crowded mall and he'd just been hit with a fucking tranquilizer.

He tried to call out for the others but no sound came from his mouth. His vision was also getting blurry and he crumpled down to the floor in a heap. He could dazedly hear a crowd of onlookers starting to circle around him. The next thing he knew, unknown hands were lifting him up and that was the last he remembered before he passed out.

Jisung found himself in complete darkness when he woke up. His legs and hands were bound and his mouth was stuffed with some cloth which tasted horrible in his mouth. The next thing he noticed was the immense shaking of the tiny compartment he was in. He was in a moving vehicle and he had no fucking clue on where he was being taken to.

Jisung's body was aching all over when the engine finally stopped rumbling as the vehicle came to a halt. It could have been five minutes; or maybe even three hours. Jisung didn't know. All he wanted was to get out of the small compartment and stretch out his limbs which were cramping.

A door suddenly opened without warning and he was dragged out of the vehicle and was dumped into the gravelly ground like a sack of potatoes. His ribs hit the ground hard and he gave a squeal of pain which got muffled through the cloth in his mouth.

There were two pairs of hands holding him roughly; one pair from his legs and the other pair from his shoulders and he was carried towards a huge white building which looked like an old warehouse. He was messily thrown into a wooden chair like a rag-doll and someone who was behind him tied his hands and legs to the chair so he couldn't move.

A burly looking man came forwards, held him tightly from his jaw and took out the piece of cloth which was stuffed in his mouth for the past few hours.

"Where the fuck am I?" Jisung asked looking at the four men who carried him inside. But none of them answered. It was someone else who answered his question.

"There there Jisung," the man said in a taunting manner as he came forwards to face Jisung. "You should really calm down now."

It was Lee, the man who had tried to poison Chan's dad at the casino the other day.

"You're Lee, aren't you?" Jisung asked to make sure.

"Well yes I am, and I reckon you're not in any position to ask me questions right now-" he said smirking slightly.

Jisung opened his mouth and closed it again. He would actually be lying if he said that the man didn't scare him at least one bit. The behaviour he was exhibiting so far was psychotic and Jisung just wanted run away as far as possible from this man.

"I assume your friends still don't know where you are, or else they would already be here by now won't they?" Lee asked but he was talking more to himself rather than to Jisung.

From the corner of his eye, Jisung could see that the other men were tending to a fire which was blazing inside of a huge metal barrel. He had no idea what the fire was for, but he knew that it couldn't mean any good for him.

Maybe that's where they'll put his body to burn after they're done with him?

"Kyung," Lee called and the big burly man came forward.

Did Lee just say Kyung? Wasn't that the same name Chan had mentioned earlier that day? The whole fucking reason they've been out in the mall in the first place?

A sudden dread engulfed Jisung making him shiver in terror. If Kyung was somehow related with the murder of Jeongin's sister and if he was an accomplice of Lee, did that mean Lee was behind everything all this time? Was he going to end up in the same fate as Somin did?

"Boss said he needs a report as soon as possible so I've got to leave now," Lee said looking at his watch. "Have him marked and ready for questioning by tomorrow morning alright?"

The man whose name was Kyung nodded his head and returned to the fire.

"What do you mean by marking me?" Jisung asked before he lost the little bit of confidence and courage he had in him.

"Oh, you'll see," Lee said with a crazy glint in his eye and left the warehouse from the back door.

No one paid Jisung any attention for some time as everyone was circling around the barrel talking to themselves in low voices so that Jisung couldn't hear. He didn't bother asking them anything either because he knew he wouldn't be getting any answers from them.

After a long while, one of the men came to him and Jisung noticed that he had a knife in his hands. Jisung felt entirely helpless as he was tied to a chair and he had no means of defending himself.

The man bent down next to him pointing the knife at his lower stomach and Jisung held his breath dreading what would happen when the knife tears apart his skin, but whatever he expected, it didn't happen at all.

The man just ripped off a part of his t-shirt with the blade so that his waist and hip bone were exposed to the cold air.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Jisung asked from the retreating man in disbelief. He had just cut a piece off of his T-shirt; Jisung at least needed an explanation to why he did that. But obviously, he never got any.

Nothing whatsoever happened for a long time and Jisung was actually getting bored staring at the four men standing around the barrel until one of them spoke.

"Is it ready?"

Kyung nodded his head stiffly. Was he a mute? Jisung never really saw him speaking and he noticed that he used body language quite a lot when he communicated with the others.

Then he saw something which made him gasp so loud that the others turned around to stare at him in surprise. Suddenly what Lee told about _marking_ him made a lot more sense than it did a few seconds ago.

Kyung was holding up a metal rod which had just been taken out of the fire. There was some sort of symbol… a word at the end of the metal which was blazing red. Jisung realized he was about to get branded like some farm animal and he couldn't do anything about it.

Kyung approached him with the red hot branding metal in his hand and it just seemed to take forever to Jisung.

Jisung was terrified, he wanted to scream but at the same time he felt paralyzed from head to toe. He had never felt so helpless in his entire life before, he had never imagined he'll come to a situation like this ever before.

All he was able to do was close his eyes just before the glistening hot metal touched his skin. There was a sickening sizzling sound as the metal made contact with his skin at his hipbone, vaporizing the outermost layers at the very touch. But there seemed to be no pain at first. The pain only hit him after a few seconds and Jisung bit down on his bottom lip to prevent the scream which almost escaped from his mouth. He had bit down on his lips so hard to the point that he started bleeding and he could even taste metallic taste in his mouth.

He felt Kyung moving the metal away from him and the smell of burning skin hit him before anything else. He tore his eyes open to see the damage it had done and at once realized it was a very bad idea. The curvy letters, now engraved on his skin spelled the word _Legacy_ and he had no fucking idea what it was or what it meant. Blood was still oozing out of the matted and burned skin and he knew that he could pass out any moment due to the unbearable pain. It felt like there were a thousand knives inside his body trying to carve him out like a wooden sculpture.

Then he heard it, a sudden crash behind him. He couldn't see as he was facing the opposite direction but Jisung was almost sure that the sound was the warehouse door crashing open.

The knives inside his abdomen were still carving pieces in his stomach and his vision was getting rather misty. His head lolled to the side and he was met with a very interesting sight.

The four men who were in the warehouse with him were acting extremely weird... actually weird was an understatement to what was happening to them. All of them looked like they were cowering in fear and they were kneeling down on the floor as if they were praying.

Jisung heard the first gunshot and one of the men dropped onto the floor, presumably dead and three more gunshots sounded one after the other. His eyesight was getting blurrier by the second and he was only half aware of what was happening around him. He barely even noticed that someone was untying his hands from the chair he was tied to.

But Jisung was pretty sure he heard Minho's voice, the familiar grumble of him just before he passed out cold, only... only if he hadn't been hallucinating.

**Seungmin**

"Seungmin, could you come here for a second?" Chan called him in a slightly urgent tone.

They were at a warehouse. A warehouse somewhere around the outskirts of the city. Four bodies lay on the cement floor and all of them were pretty much dead. Everyone looked like they had been through a lot of damage; even the living didn't look any better.

Changbin was going all over the place pocketing anything he thought that might be useful for them in the future. Jeongin and Hyunjin were sent back to the Circle along with Jisung who was in an extremely bad condition when they have arrived.

On the other hand, there was Minho who was speed walking along the length of the warehouse muttering to himself and still holding his gun in his hand. Seungmin was only hoping that he hadn't cracked or gone crazy yet. It would be real bad for all of them if Minho continued to malfunction like this; Minho just needed a good smack in the head to get him back to his senses.

Seungmin was trying to figure out how to approach Minho without getting his brains blown apart when Chan called him. (It is just very dangerous to go near a crazy person when they had a gun in their fucking hands)

Chan had been examining the dead bodies before the police arrived so that they could gain all the information they want before all evidence gets confiscated.

Seungmin went over to Chan and knelt beside one of the larger bodies strewn across the floor. "What's up?"

"You might wanna see this," he said and pointed at the dead man's open eyes with his finger.

At first Seungmin didn't know what he was looking at but then he noticed it. The eyes were yellow, there was no mistake. "No fucking way," he breathed out defiantly.

"And look at this," Chan said as he held the man's jaw with his gloved hand and forced his mouth open.

It was a horrifying sight. Mutilation was the best word for it. The tip of his tongue seemed to be cut off like 2 centimetres in and the places where his canine teeth should have been, they were empty. It looked like they had been unmercifully pulled straight out of his gums.

One of Seungmin's biggest fears ever had just been confirmed and he felt like he was spiralling through an endless hole.

Werewolves. They were real.

They exist, he was kneeling beside one at the very moment and there might be many others out there. He didn't even want to think about it.

"Why do you think they did that to him?" Chan said glancing at the mutilated mouth for a second before closing it shut.

"Well, in _Werewolves and Bloodlines_ it did mention that without their predatory teeth, they wouldn't be able to transform. I think whoever did that was doing it as a safety precaution," Seungmin said.

"What about the tongue?"

"I have no explanation for it other than cruelty," he admitted.

Whoever did that to a living being couldn't have been in his right mind. Hell, it would be hella surprising if he didn't live as a mute after his tongue got cut off. It was just inhumane.

"What are we going to do hyung?" Seungmin asked with a bit of an edge in his voice.

Chan bit his lip as if he was considering what to say to the other.

But there was nothing to say, everything he probably wanted to say was in front them immobilized, and very dead.

"Seungmin, I honestly don't fucking know-"

**Jisung**

A door snapped close and he woke up startling the person sitting beside him who was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. It was Hyunjin and he looked like he hadn't been sleeping very well.

"What hap-happened?" Jisung groggily asked rubbing his eyes.

He tried to sit up on his bed but a blinding pain shot through his hipbone all the way up to his spinal cord making him fall back to the mattress again. "Fuck," he hissed through his teeth holding on to the bed sheets.

"Just lay down," Hyunjin said covering Jisung with the blankets again. "The burned area isn't fully healed yet. It might hurt for some days I figure. Also you've got a bruised rib; I don't know how you got it though-"

He must have got it when those men roughly pulled him out of the car straight into the gravel. He's actually surprised it isn't cracked or anything, just a single mere bruise. But it still hurt like a fucking bitch.

"How did you get me out? I heard gunshots, and then I passed out."

And somehow, for some odd reason, he had heard Minho's voice just before he lost his consciousness. It certainly cannot be, right?

"Well, Felix and Minho followed you all the way to that warehouse-" Hyunjin said smiling rather half-heartedly at Jisung. "They regret not going inside a bit earlier than they had because by the time they got in, you were already passing out."

Jisung closed his eyes and sighed. "Where are they now?" he asked. Regret was the last thing he wanted at the moment, he felt lucky to be alive more than anything.

"Felix was here few minutes ago, just before you came around. Chan was here too, he's still mad that he lost Lee for the second time, I think he really hasn't gotten over the fact that he tried to poison his dad," Hyunjin said giving him a glass of something which looked like orange juice. "Drink it up, you'll feel better."

"What about Minho?"

Hyunjin's usual smile slackened a bit. "Uh, well-" he began to say. "Actually, he really hadn't come out of his room or showed his face to anybody yet. He'd been locked inside ever since we got back from the warehouse," he finished rather awkwardly.

"Why?" Jisung asked.

"I guess he feels guilty. He thinks you got abducted because of his negligence since he was with you at that time. I mean we were there too, but maybe he feels like it was his responsibility to make sure you were safe," Hyunjin said looking sympathetically at Jisung. "And he'd just killed four men in one night. If I was him, I would have gone crazy by now."

Jisung groaned. Can people stop worrying about him for a second? He was completely fine except for a little bruise in his ribs and an ugly ass burn scar which was kinda traumatic and he might even suffer from PTSD in the long run because of that. It was already bad enough that Minho had to kill some people to get him out of there; he didn't have to drown himself in guilt as well.

He remembered how the men were acting right before they got shot; how they were kneeling on the floor cowering in fear. Was that Minho who was making them do that? Was that his sin, _Wrath_ enforcing some kind of fear on them?

And Kyung had been there, the person whom they were searching for. The only link they had to Jeongin's sister's murder and he was dead as well...

"I need to talk to Chan," Jisung suddenly said trying to stand up again. But he was held back firmly from his shoulder by Hyunjin who was giving him an extremely disapproving look as he pulled the covers on him again.

"Not now," Hyunjin curtly said.

"But it's important-"

"I'm sure it can wait."

"No it cannot wait, it's about Kyung, Hyunjin please-" Jisung said impatiently.

Hyunjin's expression faltered. "Well I've just given you sleeping pills mixed with the orange juice. I'm sorry but you'll be falling asleep any minute now," Hyunjin said. "I assure you that Chris will be here when you wake up in five hours."

"What are the sleeping pills for?" Jisung asked incredulously.

"Seungmin's orders. You were screaming in your sleep the entire night and you need to rest as much as you can so he recommended the pills," Hyunjin said looking actually sorry for him.

"Oh," was all Jisung could say before he fell asleep.

**~x~**

Everywhere Jisung looked, trees were towering over him like a million scaly creatures who were about to devour him whole. It was dark, almost pitch black but he still kept running, blindly sensing his way through the trees trying his best not to crash on anything. Numerous times he fell flat on his face as he tripped on a tree root or a plant but kept scrambling up again to continue running, completely ignoring his scratched and bleeding hands.

He remembered this place, it was the same wilderness Jeongin took him through the very first day he came to the Circle. But it wasn't the same dirt path they used that day. There were nothing but trees everywhere he looked. He only knew that he needed to run, to run as fast as he can to the Circle for safety. But what was he running from?

The answer came instantaneously. A loud howling sounded right behind him, completely tearing apart the eerie silence of the dark night. Another howl answered the previous one from somewhere to his left and in no time; the whole forest was filled with the howling of a pack of wolves.

The next second he knew, he was stumbling forwards to the ground again as he tripped on a rock and the sight he saw behind him was horrifying. The animal was bigger than any wolf he had ever seen, almost as huge as a grizzly bear. It was gaining on him by the second and he was momentarily immobilized on the muddy ground with no help.

He could hear the rest of its pack getting closer and closer towards him and he knew that this might be the last moments of his life when something flashed by him and went straight towards the charging wolf.

"Caesar?"

The wolf came to a halt in front of the leopard and Jisung knew that this was his cue. He got up again using a tree branch as leverage and started running again. He looked back one last time to see if Caesar was still holding its ground but what he saw instead made his heart drop into his stomach.

About a dozen wolves that all looked as if they weighed the same as a small car had surrounded Caesar and she was cornered. Two of the beasts jumped onto the leopard's body and he didn't want to see anymore. He whipped his head around and kept running amidst the sickening sound of the dying leopard and the loud pattering of the wolves behind him.

He was almost there; he could see the wall about a hundred meters ahead of him. It was just a bit more, just a little bit more to safety. But he never reached the gate. One of the beasts suddenly appeared in front of him rendering him nowhere to go but sideways. He started moving in that direction but another animal came out of nowhere and blocked his way.

He was also being cornered, just like it was with Caesar. He had nowhere to run.

His knees lost its strength and he sank to the ground in defeat as the beasts formed a circle around him ready for the attack. There was nothing left to do except wait for it-

"Jisung, Jisung!" Someone was shouting. Was anyone coming to get him?

"No don't come," he tried to say but only nothing came from his mouth.

"Jisung!"

They sounded urgent. But he couldn't reply. Someone was shaking him from his shoulder. It hurt him, but not as much as all the wounds in his hands and legs did. Actually they weren't even hurting anymore.

"Jisung you're just dreaming," the same voice said and now someone was stroking his head.

 _“Can't be”_ he thought.

The wolves were backing off from him as well. It didn't make sense. This had felt so real; it couldn't have been a dream? Right?

Jisung's eyes fluttered open into the bright light of his own room making him go blind for a mere second. He actually had been dreaming.

He was drenched in sweat from head to toe and his body felt like he had actually run a few miles though a forest. The first thing he noticed was that it wasn't Hyunjin who was with him anymore, it was Seungmin.

"What happened?" Jisung asked for the second time that day.

"Looks like the pills aren't working-" he casually commented giving Jisung a face towel. "How are you feeling now?"

"Bad."

"Hmm, drink it up. You'll feel good," Seungmin said giving him a glass of clear water.

"What's mixed in it this time?" Jisung asked suspiciously from him.

Seungmin chuckled. "I promise you that there's nothing in it this time. Just water."

Jisung swiftly took a small gulp from the glass, still staring suspiciously at Seungmin. It tasted like water alright, so he decided it was safe for drinking.

"Can I talk to Chan at least now?" Jisung asked setting the empty glass on the bedside table with a little clink.

"Yes, actually he'd been very impatient to talk to you as well but things weren't working out so great-" he said a bit distractedly. "Wait a second, I'll get him here," he said leaving the room.

After a few silent minutes Seungmin re-entered the room with Chan by his side. He occupied the chair Seungmin was previously sitting on right beside Jisung and Seungmin was left with no choice but to sit on the foot of Jisung’s bed.

"How are you now?" Chan asked smiling down at him. "Last time I came around you were drugged and was fast asleep."

"I feel better than before," Jisung said.

"That's great to hear," he said. "Anyway, let's get to the topic straight away shall we? Do you mind? Because Hyunjin might kill me if I dragged this on for long since he didn't want anyone to disturb you in the first place until you got some proper rest."

"The man we were looking for; Kyung, he's dead," Jisung said.

"What?" both Chan and Seungmin said in unison. Surely, this wasn’t what they’ve been expecting from him at all.

"Yep, he was one of the men who held me at the warehouse. If Minho killed all four who were there with me, he's dead too."

"Do you remember how he looked like?" Seungmin asked and he sounded like there was something stuck in his throat.

"Easily the biggest bloke out of everyone-"

Chan and Seungmin glanced at each other, their eyes filled with some kind of mutual understanding which Jisung didn't seem to understand.

"What's wrong?" he questioned.

Seungmin tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace than anything else. "Everything’s wrong Jisung, I guess we have to fill you in-"

**Lee**

His men were dead, Han Jisung was gone and he was facing a huge inquiry from his Boss. Nothing had gone according to plan and he had no idea how to set thing right before his meeting with the Boss

He couldn’t believe it. He had messed up big time. And Kyung, his favourite torture man was dead too. Lee was almost a hundred percent sure that there were only a handful of people whom Kyung would lose a fight for and the most surprising thing was, it looked like there hadn’t been any fight at all. All of them were dead with only a single bullet hole in each of their bodies. There wasn’t even a single scratch to be seen on them which completely perplexed Lee.

“Clean this shit up,” he commanded at the substitute men whom he had newly recruited since his usual men weren’t alive anymore. “I don’t want to see any of this shitload when I come back with the boss so make sure you do your fucking job properly.”

He only hoped that all of the things he was doing for the Boss will be worth it in the end. He just wanted revenge and this was the only way he could get it even though he knew that this way might end his life one way or another. It was too late to back down now, he’d already made his choice and these were the repercussions.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter lol
> 
> I don't have much to elaborate in this chapter expect for umm... LEE MINHO WTF WAS THATTT??? And Jisung you're my bias and ily but I'll try not to kill you as often ;)
> 
> Oh btw do yall think the dream is foreshadowing something? Hmm, lets see.
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments, I appreciate them very much :)
> 
> Follow me on:  
> twitter - [@agustrachaa](https://twitter.com/agustrachaa?lang=en)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Chapter 7 is here!!
> 
> I'm sorry if this took longer than usual because I haven't been in the best of moods lately, but it's all good :)
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well!

**Lee Jiyong**

The Boss was arriving at the warehouse within the next five minutes and Lee was just about to lose his mind.

Usually, the Boss didn't care what Lee was doing at the warehouse, it was none of his concerns. He didn’t even care how he's managing to do all his tasks as long as he got the job done in the end so it was very surprising when Lee heard about the arrival.

It was undeniable that Lee had completely messed up everything but the thought that he might have crossed the lines this time worried him way too much.

The sound of a car pulling up in the gravel outside the warehouse brought him back to reality. He heard the doors of the vehicle slamming shut and the next thing he knew, the man who he'd been dreading to meet for the past few hours was walking up to him in a slow stride.

There were two heavily built bodyguards flanking on either sides of the Boss and these men looked like they could break a few bones with their bare hands. Wherever he went, he usually took his bodyguards with him as extra precaution, just in case anything happened.

The man himself was dressed in an expensive looking black leather suit. A belt was tied tightly around his waist and a bowler hat covered the top half of his face making him look extra mysterious. The whole look reminded Lee of a spy from a 90's movie.

The Boss was very small compared to his bodyguards who towered next to him like a couple of pillars. He was a small man with big words, and an even bigger personality which was probably the reason why many people feared him so much.

"Good evening Lee," he greeted him in his usual monotonous voice.

"Good evening to you too sir-" Lee replied with a slight bow.

He took a good look around the place before he turned towards Lee.

"So tell me, Lee. What in the world were you doing while Han Jisung escaped from your very _ferocious_ and loyal men?" He asked rather sarcastically.

"Uh- I was on your way to report to you sir-"

"Hmm, let's try this again," he said. "What were you doing when you were supposed to return to me Lee?"

Fuck, of course he knew. He knew that Lee hadn't come straight to him like he was ordered to. He'd been taking a drink with a friend when he was supposed to go and meet the Boss first thing after the abduction. He shouldn't have lied in the first place anyway because the Boss always knew when he was being lied to. It was just too late to take back what he said now anyway.

"I'm sorry sir that won't be happening again," Lee stammered. "I got a little bit side trac- AARRGGHHHHHH"

A sudden jolt of pain went through Lee’s body making him double over as the pain pulsed through his nerves making his whole body dysfunctional. It felt like someone has taken hold of his insides and was twisting and cutting them into little pieces without any remorse.

Lee knew what this was; it was the Boss's ultimate weapon. He'd seen him using it on others but he had never been on the receiving end ever before.

Basically, he had the power and the ability to torment a person physically with just the control of his mind which made him a person to be absolutely terrified of. Lee just had no idea how strong his powers were or how he induced so much pain to the extent it was almost unbearable. There's no way anyone's going to disobey him after they've experienced this torture.

"Stand up Lee. I'm done with it," Lee barely heard through the aftermath of the shock, his whole body still hurt so much and he felt like he was about to pass out. "Just to make sure you won't ever lie to me again-"

"I-I won't," Lee gasped.

"Good, very good," he said. "Mind you, this time it was only a little shock. You'd get the full taste of it if you disobey me again."

 _Little_ shock? Lee almost felt like he'd rather die a quick death than going through it again. He didn't even want to imagine what the big shocks felt like.

"I'll make sure it won't happen again sir," Lee mumbled quietly.

"Anyhow- show me the bodies. I need to look at them, to see what happened," he said completely ignoring Lee's excuses.

"Bodies? Why?" Lee asked completely taken aback.

Lee thought the Boss wouldn’t want to see the bodies so his new men have taken them down to a small room which joined to the back of the warehouse where Lee usually kept his equipment

"Do not question me-"

Lee flinched at the tone and took a step backwards. He really didn't want to be tortured like that again.

"Yes of course, follow me," Lee said gesturing for the others to come behind him.

The four bodies lay on the ground with a cloth covering them from head to toe and thankfully, it hadn't started to smell yet which was a big relief. One of the bodyguards came forwards and removed the cloth on top of the bodies so that the Boss could take a good look at it.

He bent down and started examining the corpses and the bullet wounds on each of the bodies very thoroughly. He stood up after a while of looking through them and wiped off his hand on his coat.

"This looks like Lee Minho's work, beautiful and extremely clean as always, pretty impressive," the boss said with a slight grin.

"Are you referring to the _Ira_? Lee Minho?" Lee asked a bit amazed at how the Boss came into that conclusion after just skimming through the bodies.

"Yes, the exact one. No one else could pull off these killings as flawlessly as he can."

"How did you recognize it was Minho's work though?"

"If you see your old friend do a certain thing a million times, you would remember it too Lee."

Oh. So they were friends? Wonder what happened between the two for them to reach to the point where one of them was looking forward to a chance to pulverize the other at any moment given. Lee decided he'd rather not ask about it now, it just didn't feel like the right time to have this particular conversation.

They were about to leave the room when the Boss's phone started ringing.

"Hello," he said into the phone. "Yes, this is Jung Jiwon speaking, what do you require?"

And it was all Lee heard as the Boss turned away from him and spoke in the lowest possible volume so that Lee couldn’t eavesdrop. After a few minutes, the call ended and he turned back to face him again.

"I expect you to be at my office the first thing next morning. We have business to discuss," he said. "I hope you're not gonna mess things up for me this time Lee."

"No sir- I won't disappoint you again."

**Chris**

Everything considered, it had been a very enlightening week for Chris. Right after the conversation he had with Jisung, he'd sent messages to everybody asking them to assemble at the board room immediately.

Apart from him, only Seungmin (and now Jisung) knew about the dead Werewolf they identified at the warehouse a couple of days ago. Chris had been postponing telling the others about this whole complication because he felt like he shouldn't be worrying them too much, but after hearing what Jisung had to say, he had changed his mind.

They had to know.

"Where's Minho?" He asked seeing that two of the chairs around the table were unoccupied.

Of course, Jisung wasn't in any condition to get out of the bed just yet. He already knew what Chris wanted to discuss at the meeting so it didn't matter if he was present or not. But where the fuck was Minho?

"He still won't come out of his room," Seungmin said. "I tried to talk to him a while ago but he didn't even open his fucking door."

This wasn't the first time Minho had decided to shut himself up in his room, but he'd never gone to the extent that he wasn't even speaking with anyone else. So Chris was getting a tad bit worried.

"Jeongin, can you try and go speak to him later? You know he has a soft spot for you-" Chan asked.

"Well, I can try of course, but I can't assure you that he will listen to me," Jeongin said scratching his chin absent-mindedly.

"Anyway, why are we really here?" Changbin asked changing the subject.

Chris exchanged a swift worried glance with Seungmin and sighed. Well, it’s now or never, they needed to know.

With the help of Seungmin he explained to them all about the existence of Werewolves and also about Kyung, who apparently connected to both Somin's murder and Jisung's kidnapping. There was a series of muted gasps from around the table when he told them how he and Seungmin had found out about Kyung being a Werewolf who’d been in disguise all this time.

"Are you guys certain about this?" Hyunjin asked. "All these things were just bedtime stories my grandparents used to tell me long ago to scare the shit out of me."

"That's what I thought too. Turns out I was very wrong," Chan said in a soft voice. "I saw the real thing in front of my own eyes. Even though I want to deny what I saw, I can’t do it."

Everyone fell silent for a while trying to grasp the information that had just been put out. Jeongin was the first one to break the silence.

"So you're saying that the person who was involved with my sister's murder is already dead?"

"Hmm, it seems so, but I think he was only following Lee Jiyong's orders- you know how loyal they tend to get to humans," Seungmin said. "And I believe Lee isn’t working on his own accord, he’s working for someone else as well. We need to find out who's behind everything and why they're doing it-"

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Actually I'm not surprised though, the Lee's have always hated our entire family and Jiyong cannot be any exception," Chan said. "It was actually very suspicious to see him at my father's office that day, my instincts were right-"

"What's the reason though? Why are they in such bad terms with your family?" Hyunjin asked.

"Well, apparently my great grandpa hadn't really liked the idea of her daughter getting married to an Elf. Of course that particular Elf was a direct relative to Lee Jiyong and their whole generation of Hybrids have hated us ever since," Chris said with a light chuckle.

"Wait guys, I just realized something," Felix suddenly said looking confused. "If the Hybrids and the Werewolves are against us for some reason, shouldn’t we be worried about other communities too? Like the Elves?"

This was something that had never occurred to Chris before until Felix just mentioned it. It had never even crossed his mind. Of course the Elves were a huge part of their society, their population obviously exceeded both Hybrids and Werewolves combined and if they were in on the wrong side, they were definitely done for.

"I personally don't think they're on anyone's side yet. If they were, we should probably know it by now," Changbin said.

"You're right, they are not the type of individuals to keep quiet about things like this," Chan said. "I think we should reach out to them before the others get to them."

"And how are we gonna do that?" Seungmin asked raising one of his eyebrows.

"About that..." Chris faltered. "We'll have to figure it out-"

**Jisung**

It was the sixth consecutive day he had been trapped inside a damn bedroom with no sense of what's happening outside the walls. Yesterday night, Seungmin had promised him that he’d be allowed to leave the bed since he was back to good health and almost perfectly healed. He couldn't wait until he was released from the confines of the four walls of his room which he was already getting so tired of.

The others took turns keeping him company during the last few days and he couldn't be more grateful for them. God knows, he would have even gone crazy if he had no one to talk to. Also, it had been a great chance of getting to know each other properly.

Chris was actually a very fun guy to hang around with and it was always jokes and laughing out loud until their stomachs started to hurt whenever he was keeping him company. Seungmin was a complete different story; it was a tad bit more serious with him. The little conversations with Seungmin were very informative and full of new things he didn't know. He felt like it was so incredible to talk with someone with so much knowledge like Seungmin.

The only one who never visited him was Minho. He was also the person Jisung really wanted to speak to but luck wasn’t on his side. Minho had literally saved his goddamn life and Jisung just wanted to thank him for what he did but the man was literally nowhere to be seen.

Apparently Jeongin had gone to talk to him few days ago but Minho had just opened the door for a mere ten seconds to ask what Jeongin wanted and knowing that he only wanted to talk, Minho had slammed the door in the poor kid's face without another word. Jisung was planning to go and try to talk to him as soon as he was allowed to walk but he knew that it wasn't going to be so easy. Chris told him that Minho wasn't an easy person to approach when he was in a bad mood and it was only making Jisung even more nervous.

He slowly hoisted himself up from his elbows and put his feet on the ground. His bruised rib didn't make him cry out in pain this time and Jisung thought that it was a really good sign.

The burn scar didn't hurt at all anymore but it still looked extremely gross; at least it wasn't oozing liquid anymore. The word _legacy_ stood out against his pale skin reminding him of a freshly inked tattoo. Numerous times he had wondered what it meant or for what reason he was branded like that but really, he had no fucking clue.

He was so immersed in his own thoughts that he almost didn't hear Hyunjin coming into the room.

"Hey, I see you're up and ready already!" He said with a smirk.

"Of course, I mean even you'll get tired of it too if you had to stare at a damn ceiling all day long," Jisung said rolling his eyes.

"Right sure," Hyunjin chuckled. "You just have to be careful when you move around because that bruise on your rib isn't fully healed yet."

"No problem, I think I can live with that-"

**~x~**

It wasn't easy to muster up the courage to go and talk to Minho like he’d been planning earlier. It took all his willpower and a lot of convincing from Felix for Jisung to drag his feet down towards Minho's room.

"From here you're all alone man, good luck!" Felix said and left him all alone, completely exposed to a potential death trap.

Jisung knocked on the door and waited in utter silence expecting the impending doom. After a few seconds, he heard some hustling behind the door and the sound of a lock clicking.

"For God's sake Jeongin could you please tell Chan to stop sending you-" Minho faltered as he realized it wasn't Jeongin who he was talking to. "Oh, it's you."

Jisung held his breath without saying anything as Minho scrutinized him up and down as if he was something put on display at a retail shop.

"So you're just gonna stand there and waste both of our time?" Minho asked and Jisung still couldn't reply. "Okay then," he said as he made to close the door.

"No no no wait!" Jisung shouted as he managed to squeeze inside Minho's room just before the door completely closed.

And damn, it was a complete mess.

Of course it shouldn't be a surprise; the man had been literally living in here for almost a whole week.

Clothes and empty plates were strewn all over the floor and every flat surface except for his bed were scattered with everything and anything imaginable.

There was a 50 inch flat-screen TV mounted on the wall in front of his bed which was playing a fucking nature documentary out of all things. The other wall was completely made out of glass, the forest stretched out across the horizon and it was probably one of the most beautiful sights Jisung has ever laid eyes on.

Minho had his arms crossed across his chest and was looking at Jisung in a bored kinda way. Now that he had properly taken a good look at Minho, the man didn't look any better than the mess of his room did.

There were huge bags under his eyes, his hair looked unkempt and disheveled and his clothes seemed to fit more loosely around his figure than it used to have.

"Are you okay?" Were the first words that came out of Jisung's mouth.

Minho seemed to be a bit taken aback at this question. But he answered nonetheless.

"I think I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking that question from you."

"Believe me I'm far better now," Jisung said with a sarcastic laugh. "But you? You've been stuck inside here for a fucking week and have you taken a look at yourself? You look like a goddamn train-wreck and your sorry ass have been avoiding everybody when they tried their hardest to talk to you I- I don't believe this," Jisung stopped himself as he realized he'd said way too much than he had intended to.

He had never lost control like this on Minho... or anyone like this before. It's just that he'd been super worried not knowing what was happening with Minho since he wasn't allowed to walk around for a particular period of time. Hyunjin had told him that Minho was blaming himself over his abduction but he had literally saved his life. He had nothing to blame himself for.

Minho made his way through the mess in his room and sat down on his bed with a sigh. "What do you want from me Jisung?"

Something inside Jisung deflated like an untied balloon on lose and he had the biggest suspicion that it was his heart which did that. The tone Minho just used on him was the most hurtful thing he had heard in a while, he felt like he was breaking into pieces and it definitely wasn't the best feeling in the world.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you- for what you did for me," he said dejectedly looking down at his feet. "I won't bother you again, I'm just gonna leave now," he said as he turned around to face the door. He could already feel the tears threatening to fall down and break him apart furthermore.

"Jisung, wait."

He blinked back the tears and took a deep breath. "Why?"

"Just-"

Jisung turned around to face Minho ignoring the stabbing pains inside his chest. His heart and mind was completely betraying him and there was nothing much he could do about it. And it was that exact moment he realized that it wasn't normal for him to feel like that.

"Just what?" Jisung managed to say without mumbling up all his words.

Thankfully, Minho was oblivious about the fact that Jisung was going through a semi panic attack as he didn't say anything.

"I just thought you blamed me for- uh stuff?" Minho said rather awkwardly. "You know, I was gonna come over and apologize to you but I didn't have the proper mentality to face you after all that-"

"Enough," Jisung said stopping the other mid-sentence. "You have nothing to apologize for and I never ever blamed you for anything."

Minho stood there for a while looking mildly surprised. "Oh, alright."

"And it's about time you get some fresh air and some actual good food you know," Jisung let it out and rushed out of the room before Minho could call him back again.

Jisung was pretty sure he would disintegrate down to a fine powder if he waited there any longer, the tension in there was just way too much for him to handle. He didn’t exactly know what but his mind and heart was playing an extremely dangerous game with him and he wasn't liking it one bit.

**~x~**

Later that evening, Jisung found himself playing video games with Hyunjin and Jeongin who were taking it way too seriously compared to Jisung whose mind kept going everywhere else distracting him from the game.

He couldn't stop thinking about the conversation he had with Minho which could have almost become a whole disaster.

Hyunjin and Jeongin had no clue of course; he wasn't going to tell anyone about it anyway.

While Jisung remained completely distracted, the two of them had started accusing each other of cheating during the game and it looked like it wasn't going to end anytime soon, Jisung was in third place and had anyway lost the game already so what was the point?

They were about to restart the game when Felix came inside with a huge grin plastered across his face.

"Guys, guess what?" He said bouncing up and down like an over-sized rabbit. "Minho just came out of his room guys! He's in the kitchen right now."

"What?" Hyunjin and Jeongin shouted at once.

Jisung didn't have any reaction as to what Felix said but he too was very surprised to hear that. Had Minho actually listened to him? Or was it just another coincidence that he had decided to come out of hiding the same day he went to talk to him?

"Stop screaming, you can go check for yourselves if you don't believe me," Felix said smirking.

"Damn Jisung what did you do to him?" Jeongin asked from Jisung with a hint of awe in his voice.

"What do you mean?" Jisung asked.

"No I mean we've been trying to get him out of there since forever but nothing worked. But you went and talked to him today for five fucking minutes and suddenly he changed his mind," Jeongin explained.

Jisung shook his head, but Jeongin did confirm what he was thinking about and he couldn't disagree with him. Had Minho actually listened to him? It couldn't be-

"I'm sure it's just coincidence," Jisung said as it felt like the most appropriate answer at that moment.

"Wanna check out if he's really there?" Hyunjin asked. "I won't believe Felix until I see from my own eyes."

Jeongin at once jumped up into a standing position. "Let's go!"

"You aren't gonna come with us?" Hyunjin asked Jisung as he didn't make any movement to follow them.

"No. You guys go, I think I'll believe Felix," he replied with a weak chuckle.

He knew he wouldn't be able to keep a straight face if he sees Minho again after the whole fiasco back at his room. It's just better if he took a little break away from the other because he felt like he was mentally very unstable at the moment and the thoughts going through his mind weren't very nice at all.

He just needed more time to pull his shit back together before everything turns out bad and even more confusing than it already was. He just wasn't ready for the consequences just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So our Boss has a name now,, introducing Jung Jiwon everybody! 
> 
> Also Jiwon and Minho used to know each other? Hmm, who saw that coming.... go ahead connect the dots :)
> 
> And listen I love drama between Minsung, and this is just the start. Yes, there's gonna be more uwu
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter anyway! Leave lots of kudos and comments (I try to reply to everything lol) and it means a lot to me as well~
> 
> Follow me on:  
> twitter - [@agustrachaa](https://twitter.com/agustrachaa?lang=en)
> 
> You guys can come talk to me on twitter also!


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